The Green Deal launched by the European Commission in December 2019 includes a set of strategic initiatives that define the European Union’s path towards the green transition. With the achievement of climate neutrality and decarbonization goals, involving citizens, businesses, and institutions, Europe aims to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 and become the first continent to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
One of the sectors defined as “energy-intensive” is the steel industry. The use of carbon-coke, in fact, must be gradually reduced by the established deadline, but how can furnaces be powered to align with emission reduction plans while also ensuring the required productivity of the plants? Replacing fossil fuels with gas or electricity is not economically viable and this is incompatible with the foundations of the ecological transition. Additionally, the recent State of Climate Action 2022 report highlighted that technologies to reduce emissions in the steel industry are not being adopted quickly enough.
H2 Green Steel is building a steel mill in Sweden that will burn, when fully operational, exclusively green hydrogen, and Salzgitter and ArcelorMittal also have plans in place to equip themselves with arc furnaces, electrolyzers, and reduction plants to be powered by hydrogen. However, these pilot projects are not enough: improving efficiency by lowering costs is as necessary as is the search for radically innovative production systems to reduce the environmental footprint of industrial processes, particularly those involving steel, whose emissions are termed “hard-to-abate” (“hard to abate”).
Steel is a 100% recyclable material through scrap remelting and can be recovered countless times without losing any of its original properties. The life cycle of steel is potentially endless, making it a true “permanent resource” that is essential for the development of a sustainable economy. Scrap remelting also makes the use of electric or gas furnaces more efficient, however, the furnaces themselves need upgrading to contain direct or indirect CO2 and to tap into alternative sources, such as hydrogen or blends. In addition, the amount of scrap available on the market today is not sufficient to meet production needs; therefore, it is also necessary to employ the fossil feedstock within a “controlled” cycle.
With this in mind, we, as specialized distributors of steel products downstream of the system, are also doing our part: we have adopted renewable energy sources and are developing, step by step, a policy of ecological transition that involves producers who are attentive to the environmental and social sustainability of processes and includes the guarantee of traceability in the internal production chain, including in terms of recyclability of materials. Economic growth is directly linked to the environmental impact that human activities have on the planet and this requires everyone, companies, governments and citizens, to act responsibly towards the well-being of the planet, the community and future generations.
Commitment becomes an achievement only if it is shared.
