Steelmakers call for global emission control standard

The International Steel Group is calling on the US and EU to adopt a global emission standard to achieve the decarbonization of the steel industry by 2050 and meet consumer demand for green steel products. Fastmarkets reports about it.

In November 2022, the International Steel Group, including the Steel Producers’ Association, Nucor, CELSA Group, Steel Dynamics Inc (SDI), Commercial Metals Company, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, formed the Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC).

The group supports a global standard that accelerates the transition to low-emission steel and recognizes the potential of the steel circular model to reduce carbon emissions.

The main task of the GSCC is to set a standard in the world steel sector, which is guided by the following principles:

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the global steel industry;
• establishing a standard that is technology- and production method-agnostic;
• establishing a standard that has a system boundary that includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions;
• establishing a standard that aligns with a science-based path toward limiting global temperature increase from pre-industrial levels to 1.5ºC (2.7ºF) by the year 2050;
• providing relevant information on sustainable steelmaking to appropriate decisionmakers.

“We have the technology to reduce carbon emissions in steel production by 70% today. The global industry needs to build on the innovation that has already led to cleaner steel production in the United States because the green and digital economies around the world are going to be built with steel, and the steel they are built with matters,” said Leon Topalian, CEO of Nucor.

US Steel CEO Dave Burritt says, that the world’s steel sector needs the speed of standardization, cooperation and decarbonization.

“We do need to bring China along and make sure India is brought along. But first we have to do our job and make sure that the country’s industry is going in the right direction,” he added.

As GMK Center reported earlier, consulting firm Wood Mackenzie predicts that carbon dioxide emissions in the steel industry by 2050 will be reduced by 30% compared to 2021. At the same time, decarbonization of the world iron and steel industry by 2050 requires investments in the amount of $1.4 trillion.

In 2021, the world’s steel industry emitted more than 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases, of which more than 2 billion tons came from China.