Global energy major Shell and the US-based Dow have jointly started up an experimental unit to speed up technology to electrify ethylene steam crackers. According to the energy major, steam crackers rely on fossil fuel combustion to heat their furnaces, making them carbon-intensive. And as the energy grid becomes increasingly renewable-led, using renewable electricity to heat steam cracker furnaces could become the preferred technology to decarbonize the chemicals industry. They will work, in the coming years, to first prove out process technology innovations in laboratory and pilot operations, and to then scale to commercial crackers. Steam cracking makes base chemicals, which are transformed into a range of finished products that help society live, work and respond to climate change. This new work with Dow has the potential to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from the manufacture of chemicals and to Shell’s ambition of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner.