Energy use for industry is responsible for around one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to rise, driving humanity closer to a point of no return. The European Green Deal envisions Europe becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, but industries still face uncertainty in defining viable decarbonization pathways. Based on a pioneering case-study company immersed in that shift, together with experts’ vision and state-of-the-art academia insights around biomass for energy use, the study proposes a pragmatic analytical SWOT tool for decision-makers, to assess if a transition from fossil fuels to biomass pellets in industrial steam production processes is feasible and sustainable.