Industrial energy consumption represents almost 40 percent of current global total final consumption and is still dominated by fossil fuels. In this paper, we present key decarbonization options—namely fuel switching and electrification, carbon efficiency, material efficiency, carbon capture and storage, and circular economy practices—and analyze their potential for decarbonization in six main energy-intensive industrial sectors: steel, cement, chemicals, light manufacturing, aluminum, and pulp and paper. We then develop a framework to distinguish among the different modelling approaches to industrial energy demand and emissions, with specific focus on the data challenges that constrain modelling and the difficulties of modelling innovation and technology diffusion.