SAIL has agreed to a strategic partnership deal with the leader of the resource BHP to speed up the decarbonisation of steelmaking in India, with the country’s largest government-owned steel producer taking a step toward promoting low-carbon steelmaking technologies through the blast furnace route, it said on Monday.
“We in the steel industry need to pick up the pace in terms of getting aligned with climate commitments,” said Amarendu Prakash, Chairman of SAIL, while highlighting the urgency of aligning with climate goals. The company stated it would work on building a better future for the Indian steel industry in innovative ways while overcoming challenges posed by climate change. This indeed marks an impressive commitment toward sustainability by SAIL and reveals an imperative need for transformation within the industry.
The collaboration will evaluate several workstreams focused on efforts to help SAIL’s integrated steel plants, which operate with blast furnaces, to decarbonise. This includes the initial stage of exploring various strategies that might be used to diminish GHG emissions at these facilities. The workstreams will investigate alternative reductants, such as hydrogen and biochar, while also focusing on developing local capacities for R&D in the transition toward decarbonisation.
For Rag Udd, Chief Commercial Officer of BHP, this initiative requires more collaboration. “Decarbonising the steel industry is a challenge we cannot tackle alone,” he said. “We must combine our expertise and resources to develop technologies that can have a real effect on carbon emissions, both in the short term and long term.” This is an example of a general trend in the industry toward the development of collaborative approaches to sustainability.
A newly released report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis concludes that India’s steel industry is responsible for almost 12% of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. The report also listed several strategies that could help navigate the shift from traditional steelmaking to low-emission technologies, such as green hydrogen, renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage, among others, like electric arc furnace processes.
This move is a milestone in India’s journey toward sustainable steel production, with SAIL and BHP keen on fighting climate change while fostering responsible industrial practices in steel generation. They aim to become the vanguard of innovation, sustainability, and proven environmental practices in steel, moving in harmony with a global community committed to reducing carbon footprints and tackling climate change. The collaboration between SAIL and BHP marks a significant step forward in advancing steel decarbonization in India, promoting sustainability and innovation in the steel industry.
