The Steel Industry Low-Carbon Promotion Committee, led by the state-affiliated China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), published a roadmap for realizing net-zero carbon emissions for the country’s steel sector, as reported by Caixin on August 19. The roadmap proposed a dual-carbon technology pathway for the iron and steel industry, such as raising system energy efficiency, cyclic utilization of resources, improving and innovating production procedures, upgrading the smelting process, as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies. According to the roadmap, the iron and steel industry will peak carbon emissions by 2030.

The iron and steel sector makes up about 15% of China’s total carbon dioxide emissions, making it the second-largest carbon emitter behind the thermal power industry. As the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) reiterated this April, the steel industry must carry on with the supply-side reform, implement energy-saving transformation, and improve environmental governance. In 2021, China’s crude steel production dropped by 3,000 tons YoY to 1.035bn tons amid the supply-side reform, and the NDRC vowed to keep decreasing the output by 2025 to alleviate the environmental impact of the steel industry. On August 1, the NDRC and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also published a scheme for peaking carbon emissions of the industrial sectors. The scheme called on the steel industry to gradually replace blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces (EAF), which feature shortened manufacturing processes and reduced emissions and power consumption.

Sources:

https://www.caixin.com/2022-08-19/101928332.html

https://www.steelmint.com/insights/China-s-govt-lays-out-low-carbon-steel-technology-roadmap-350771

https://www.reuters.com/article/china-steel-output-idUSKCN2MB05W