Accelerating clean energy through Industry 4.0 Manufacturing the next revolution

Industry 4.0 could contribute to finding new ways of dealing with   major global challenges, such as climate change, lack of clean energy access,   economic stagnation and reducing the digital divide  However, understanding the potential opportunities and also challenges that Industry 4.0 may  pose on countries with various levels of industrialization is necessary to outline the limits,  barriers and risks it may pose to inclusive and sustainable industrial development. For instance,  industrial production is undergoing a fundamental transformation. This process is informed  by a vision where the physical world of industrial production merges with the digital world of  information technology – in other words, the creation of a digitized and interconnected industrial  production, also known as cyber-physical systems. These new state-of-the-art technologies  offer increased deployment of renewable energy in manufacturing, reduced carbon emissions,  optimized energy-use, heightened productivity and cost savings at an unprecedented scale.