The global steel sector is making progress towards reducing its CO2 emissions but is not yet on track to half CO2 emissions by 2030 or fully decarbonise by 2050, which supports other studies. This report estimates that the global steel sector could potentially reduce CO2 emissions between 7-10% in 2030 and 30-39% in 2050, when compared to the baseline scenario, through full implementation of existing GHG reduction targets in steel producing companies. This is equivalent to a reduction from 2019 levels between 6-12% in 2030 and 36-50% in 2050.

Author: Maria Jose de Villafranca Casa, Anna Nilsson, Sybrig Smit, Joël Beuerle, Takeshi Kuramochi, 2022

This report provides the following suggestions to fix the The Korea Emission Trading Scheme (K-ETS): (1) Adjustment of emissions cap in accordance with the enhanced 2030 NDC, (2) Substantial increase of auctioning in light of the EU CBAM, (3) Price floors to safeguard the incentives for emissions reduction, (4) Implementation of coal generation cap or a single benchmark for coal and LNG in order to facilitate reductions in the power sector, (5) Fundamental change to calculation of the total emissions cap.

There is no argument about what the mission is - we need to cut emissions significantly and reach net-zero by 2050. Additionally, there needs to be a stop to investors engaging with carbon intensive technology and assets. The report "Net-Zero Steel: Sector Transition Strategy", by the Mission Possible Partnership, details a net-zero transition strategy that is backed by science and the industry itself. This strategy identifies exactly what needs to happen before 2050, to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C

Author: Mission Possible Partnership, 2022

“The global market for low-CO2 materials could reach 100 USD billion by 2030”, depicting that the opportunity is there - but what about the technology? This study explores the momentum of clean technology development in the industrial sector, as well as what policy areas can be intertwined to increase the production of low-CO2 materials.

Author: Material Economics, 2022

Climate Bonds Initiative's webinar brings you 6 speakers to discuss the transitions required in the steel sector.

Author: Climate Bonds Initiative, 2022

With steel and cement being such common materials in the modern world, the demand for them will only continue to grow. This means that the COP26 commitments must be executed and drive the “decade of action” needed. In this Industrial Analytics Platform guest article, three specialists discuss what still needs to be done to move forward, as well as the challenges that may arise.

Author: Industrial Analytics Platform, 2022

With the decisive decade upon us, there is an increasing pressure for installing greener approaches in the industrial sectors. McKinsey & Company discuss 'the way forward' for the construction sector in achieving net-zero steel.

Author: McKinsey & Company, 2022

Ben Beachy's article imagines a comprehensive green industrial policy in the United States that could articulate the next margin for climate activists and policymakers.

Author: Ben Beachy, 2022

Where there's a will there's a way, so goes the saying - but is there a way for decarbonising energy-intensive industries? In this episode of the Tata Steel podcast, with guest Gareth Stace who is the Director General of Trade Association UK Steel, they discuss the importance of a supportive political framework. The conversation covers a range of intersecting topics including the challenges faced when ensuring policies in this energy arena, as well as how energy-intensive industries rely on these policies to achieve decarbonisation.

Author: Tata Steel, 2022

With the global steel production having substantially increased from 2000 to 2020, it appears that. the demand for steel will only continue to increase. In Global Efficiency Intelligence’s report Global Efficiency Intelligence, they set out to create the international benchmarking for energy and CO2 intensities related to steel, allowing you to know which are the countries in the world guiding the industry's future, and what factors are contributing to this.

Author: Global Efficiency Intelligence, 2022

Ever found yourself looking endlessly for steel sector data that is current? Global Energy Monitor’s Global Steel Plant Tracker is the answer to your data worries. You can find not only general information about each iron and steel plants themselves, but also expansion plans and footnoted references for further details.

Author: Global Energy Monitor

This report by TransitionZero and Global Efficiency Intelligence presents a study on steel production costs in major steel producing countries around the world. The analysis is carried out both at the country-level and plant-level, and showcases yearly production costs between 2019 to 2021, broken down by the major cost components of the steel production: namely raw materials, energy, labor, and “other costs”. In addition to estimating total steel production cost in each country, we have also estimated the steel production cost for both primary steelmaking, using blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), and secondary steelmaking using electric arc furnace (EAF), separately.

Leadit report “From ‘Hard-to-Abate’ to Net-Zero: Policy Priorities for Decarbonizing Steel by 2050” draws on the best available data, to stress the urgency required to initiate the sector’s transition. There is no debate that rapid action is needed to prevent new blast furnaces from being added, as well as existing ones from being relined - all by 2025.

Author: Leadit, 2021

CarbonCopy focuses on the topic of energy consumption through the telling of a tale in their piece "What Tata Steel's attempts to decarbonise tell us". It follows two steel companies and what their contradictory approaches articulate to us about India’s response to the renewables revolution. Ultimately it raises the question of, “are India’s manufacturing value chains ready for the energy transition?”

Author: CarbonCopy, 2021

This study estimated the CO2 emissions associated with cement and steel used in public construction projects and the potential impact of Buy Clean to reduce those emissions. Approximately half of the annual CO2 emissions associated with cement consumption is associated with public construction which was around 36 Mt CO2 in 2018. Of this, around 25% is associated with government-funded projects using federal funds and the remaining is related to public projects using states and local governments-own funds.

BHP’s second episode in their “Pathways to Decarbonisation” series dives into the details of how steel is manufactured. From here, they explain in a non-technical tone the strategies and technologies required for the steel decarbonisation journey. This episode is accompanied by infographics, videos and visual diagrams that will give you a sense of ease in understanding the basics.

Author: Dr Ben Ellis & Wenjun Bao, BHP, 2020

CDP's report is aimed to equip investors with all relevant climate change data in relation to the steel market. It is packed with a summary of key findings and a 'league table' presenting content on each company. This resource is only an executive summary, the full report is only available to CDP investor signatories.

Author: CDP, 2019

The iron and steel industry is a major industrial emitter of carbon dioxide globally and in Germany. If European and German climate targets were set as equal proportional reduction targets (referred to here as “flat” targets) among sectors, the German steel industry would have to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions from about 60 million metric tons currently to 28–34 million metric tons by 2030. Technical options to further reduce CO2 that are based on existing production processes are limited. Hence, in the future, the CO2 emissions of the steel industry could be reduced by alternative and new production processes and variations in production levels. This paper describes four production pathways from 2015 to 2035 that reveal the impact of constant, increasing and decreasing production levels as well as different production processes.

This study uses a bottom-up energy consumption model to analyze four steel-production and energy-efficiency scenarios and evaluate the potential for energy savings from energy-efficient technologies in China’s iron and steel industry between 2010 and 2050. The results show that China’s steel production will rise and peak in the year 2020 at 860 million tons (Mt) per year for the base-case scenario and 680 Mt for the advanced energy-efficiency scenario

The iron and steel industry is one of the most energy-intensive and polluting industries in China. This industry accounted for approximately 27% of China’s primary energy use for the manufacturing industry in 2010. Also, China’s steel production represented around 47% of the world steel production that year. Hence, reducing energy use and air pollutant emissions from the Chinese steel industry not only has significant implications for China but also for the entire world. For this reason, it is crucial and it is the aim of this study to analyze influential factors that affected the energy use of the steel industry in the past in order to try to quantify the likely effect of those factors in the future.