Low-CO2 emissions projects

Detailed map and pathways

Low-CO2 emissions projects in the EU steel industry

Overview including emissions abatement potential, financing and energy needs

Circular Economy (CE)
Carbon Direct Avoidance (CDA)
H2-based metallurgy
Electricity-based metallurgy
Smart Carbon Usage (SCU)
Proces Integration
Carbon Valorisation/CCU
Carbon Capture and Storage CCS²
(not included in SCU, CDA or CE)
eurofer map
Mo i Rana
Gällivare
Norbotten
Luleå
Raahe
Hofors
Helsinki
Stockholm
Oxelösung
Höganäs
Hamburg
Bremen
IJmuiden
Salzgitter
Eisenhüttenstadt
Duisburg
Gent
Ostrowiec Sw.
Dunkerque
Dabrowa
Gornicza
Ostrava
Trinec
Dillingen
Völklingen
Linz
Leoben-Donawitz
Friuli
Venezia Giulia
Lonato
Del Garda
Dalmine
Umbria
Puglia
Calabria
Asturias
Sestao
Fos-sur-Mer
Zaragoza / Aragón
Barcelona
Los Barrios / Andalucía
Galati
Tallinn
Copenhagen
Edinburgh
Dublin
Manchester
Cork
London
Berlin
Amsterdam
Warsaw
Gdansk
Krakow
Prague
Leipzig
Frankfurt
Paris
Munich
Vienna
Bratislava
Budapest
Ljubljana
Venice
Zaragoza
Milan
Athens
Rome
Palermo
Lyon
Marseille
Bordeaux
Valencia

The European steel industry is on an ambitious path to cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels (equivalent to over -30% compared to 2018 levels), and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The above map shows examples of key low-CO2 projects that can help to achieve a substantial reduction of CO2 emissions in the EU steel industry. These projects (currently 60, but numbers grow by the month) will almost all start before 2030 and have the potential of reducing CO2 emissions by 81.5 million tons per year by 2030. This is equivalent to a cut of more than 1/3 of direct and indirect CO2 emissions of the European steel industry in just eight years from now, in line with the EU climate targets.

All these projects have a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of at least 7 out of 9.

The financial needs until 2030 are estimated today at €31 billion for capital expenditures (CAPEX) and €54 billion for operating expenditures (OPEX), totalling €85 billion.

The successful transition of the EU steel industry towards CO2 neutrality by 2050 depends on the availability of cost competitive low-CO2 energy carriers (especially electricity and hydrogen) and related infrastructure (including for CO2 transport and storage).

The above projects will require annually about 75 TWh electricity for the operation of steel processes and about 2.12 million tonnes of hydrogen (corresponding to about 90 TWh of electricity, if this hydrogen is produced via water electrolysis), which means in total about 165 TWh of decarbonised electricity by 2030. This is the equivalent of the double of Belgium's yearly consumption.

This corresponds also to an increase of 100% of today’s electricity consumption of the EU steel industry. Currently, the EU steel industry consumes annually about 75 TWh of electricity, which are partly purchased from the external grid and partly self-generated through gas power plants using process gases of the steel industry as well as through top-gas recovery turbines.

The steel sector is at highest risk of carbon leakage and the most impacted by unilateral climate policy among energy intensive industries[1]. In this context, ensuring a level playing field with third country competitors is essential for the transition to climate neutrality of this sector; the success of the above low-CO2 steel projects and their envisaged emissions reduction require a supportive legislative framework that effectively addresses carbon leakage both during and after their implementation.

EUROFER will regularly update the projects map, taking into account ongoing developments.

[1] European Commission, In-Depth Analysis in Support of the Commission Communication COM(2018) 773 “A Clean Planet for all - A European long-term strategic vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy” page 221 





Published: 23 May 2022. Most recent update: 17 November 2022.
Address

The European Steel Association (EUROFER)
172 Avenue de Cortenbergh
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Contact

Email: mail@eurofer.eu
Phone: +32 (0) 2 738 79 20