World’s biggest Steel manufacturers are committing to Hydrogen and CCS

The world’s leading steel makers have announced pledges to reduce emissions, aiming for net-zero by 2050 or sooner. They are committing to various new technologies still not proven at scale: making steel with hydrogen, and some with strategies that include carbon capture. They are putting their money where their mouth is. The list is impressive and includes ArcelorMittal (the world #1), ThyssenKrupp, Voestalpine, SSAB/LKAB/Vattenfall, Nippon Steel, POSCO and others. Tim Buckley at IEEFA runs through the strategies, target numbers and dates. He notes that IEEFA has long been sceptical of CCS but considers the H2H Saltend trials in the North Sea as promising. Buckley ends with a warning to firms that make and export coking coal, predicting that this technology disruption will destroy their business model.

There has been a growing tsunami of climate commitment announcements combined with fossil fuel exclusion policies by globally significant financial institutions during December 2020, building on the pledges two months earlier by the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea committing to net zero emissions targets.