ABB: How a 0.2% Choice Can Unlock Financial and Carbon Gains

A 0.2% change might appear insignificant in industrial engineering, but ABB suggests it can scale into substantial financial impact.

In its report The Industrial Efficiency Gap: How a 0.2% Decision Scales to Billions, ABB identifies large motors and generators as a key yet frequently overlooked factor in industrial decarbonisation. This is particularly important because such equipment often operates for decades, with the use phase responsible for roughly 99% of total lifecycle CO₂ emissions.

The findings draw on analysis of more than 1,000 large motors and generators supplied from ABB’s Västerås facility between 2015 and 2025, illustrating how specification decisions made today influence energy consumption, emissions, and productivity long into the future.

"Industry has spent decades optimising what happens inside a plant,” says David Bjerhag, Global Business Line Manager, High Speed Synchronous, ABB.

"Yet large motors and generators have rarely been part of that conversation, even though they run continuously for 25 years and sometimes even more, converting more energy than almost anything else on site.

“What our data shows is that the gap between a standard machine and a TIE-optimised one is not technological. It is a specification gap.

"The companies closing it fastest are the ones where the engineer who selects the motor and the CFO or CSO responsible for energy performance are aligned around a single metric: total cost of ownership. That alignment is what TIE is designed to create."

Why electrification alone falls short

Industrial electrification is advancing rapidly across industries such as oil and gas, metals, chemicals, utilities and pulp and paper, but ABB cautions that electrification by itself is insufficient.

According to the report, overall efficiency depends on the entire motor-driven system, including driven equipment, controls, and operating conditions, although the motor or generator remains central to energy conversion efficiency.

Within this framework, ABB positions its Top Industrial Efficiency (TIE) offering as a practical way to improve performance without introducing added complexity or reducing reliability.

Impact on manufacturing

ABB estimates that large motors rated above 375kW currently account for around 10.4% of global electricity consumption, with demand expected to double by 2040. Given their widespread use in heavy industry, even modest efficiency gains can add up across facilities, sites and regions.

ABB reports that a typical TIE upgrade increases synchronous machine efficiency from approximately 98.5% to 98.7%-98.8%, while induction-based systems can often improve by 1-1.5 percentage points.

As an example, the report highlights a 56 MW TIE-optimised synchronous motor delivered to a steel plant in India in 2025.

ABB states the machine achieved a verified efficiency of 99.13%, setting a new world record, and is expected to deliver US$5.9m in electricity savings while avoiding 45,000 tonnes of CO₂ over its operational life.

The billion-dollar opportunity

ABB’s financial case centres on scale and long-term impact.

The report estimates that if every standard machine delivered by ABB’s Västerås factory over the past decade had instead been specified with the TIE option, global industry could already have saved 11.1TWh of electricity and nearly US$1bn based on US energy prices.

It also suggests that 5.9 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions could have been avoided, equivalent to removing approximately 1.3 million cars from the road for a year.

Looking more broadly at the installed base, ABB estimates that a 0.2% efficiency improvement across large industrial motors could save between 4 and 6TWh annually.

Over a 25-year lifespan, this could amount to 100-150TWh of electricity savings, US$9.5bn to US$12bn in cumulative cost reductions, and the avoidance of 60-75 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Procurement as a strategic lever

For procurement teams, the report delivers a clear message: each request for quotation for a large motor or generator represents an opportunity to secure long-term value.

ABB argues that the main challenge is not technological capability, cost, or complexity, but rather a short-term purchasing mindset influenced by regional energy prices and fragmented value chains that separate buying decisions from operating costs.

This makes procurement a critical lever, as the initial premium for higher-efficiency equipment can be offset by sustained reductions in energy expenditure.

The report emphasises that buyers should focus on the total cost of ownership rather than the upfront price alone.

ABB states that selecting the TIE option can deliver payback within a few months to three years, after which the asset's remaining lifespan contributes directly to improved productivity and lower costs.