Climate change: green steel production requires multiple solutions, no ‘silver bullet’, report says
- Multiple technologies like carbon dioxide capture and energy-efficient iron ore reduction are being trialled amid decarbonisation efforts, according to McKinsey
- China’s steel industry has been experimenting with similar technologies to meet Beijing’s edict that it reach peak carbon emissions before 2030
Multiple decarbonisation technologies must be piloted for steelmaking, one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries, as no “silver bullet” solution aligned with global climate ambitions exists, according to McKinsey.
Technologies including carbon dioxide capture and storage and energy-efficient methods of reducing iron ore into metallic iron are being trialled, experts at the international business consultancy said.
“It is important to note that there is not yet a technology that would be a ‘silver bullet’ for decarbonisation, amid limited availability of high-quality scrap and iron ore,” they wrote in a report published in April. “In these circumstances, careful consideration of strategic choices and timing is key.”
In China, steelmakers are experimenting with green steel technologies including carbon capture. Australian iron ore mining giant BHP signed an agreement late March for piloting carbon capture and utilisation technology with HBIS Group, the world’s seventh-largest steelmaker based in China’s northern Hebei province, southwest of Beijing.
This involves the testing of a technology that uses unwanted minerals from smelting processes to turn carbon dioxide into a solid mineral, in addition to a biological process to convert the greenhouse gas into protein.
To be aligned with the Paris Agreement’s ambition to contain global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, global greenhouse gas emissions must fall by 43 per cent by 2030 from 2019 level according to United Nations scientists.
Chinese companies contributed more than 60 per cent of the world’s total carbon emissions from iron and steel production. They also account for 15 per cent of China’s total carbon emissions, making such production the second-largest polluter in the country after power generation at 40 per cent.
Last year, Beijing set a target for China’s steel industry to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 – five years later than a target floated in late 2021 by the industry body China Iron and Steel Association.