Editor’s choice
Editor’s choice
Used in industry and the transport sector, such as in cars, trucks, aviation, rail, and shipbuilding, steel is the most important construction and engineering material in modern societies. At the same time, steel has the single biggest industrial CO2 footprint at 2.6 gigatons a year in 2020, accounting for 7% of global CO2 emissions. Making steel is highly carbon intensive because transforming iron ore into steel requires high levels of energy, currently supplied by coal in most steel mills.
Photo: Crystal Kwok / Unsplash.
To meet the Paris Agreement, steel producers will need to halve their CO2 emissions from the steel-making process by 2030, rising to a 90% cut in emissions by 2040.
Innovative technologies are being developed to help the industry get there – substituting coal with renewable hydrogen being one of the most promising ones – but the task seems daunting. This COP27 side event presented by State of Green and partners Topsoe and H2Green Steel aims to provide inspiration and to discuss some of the critical drivers of the green steel transition, including political strategies, collaboration across the value chain and the role of off-takers in supporting early market development.
In addition, the panel will address the importance of realizing the societal benefits associated with a just transition such as green growth and employment.
(Data sources: The Net Zero Industry Tracker (World Economic Forum – 2022), World Steel Association, McKinsey Decarbonization challenge for steel 2020 report)
Moderator: Robert Watt, Communications Director and Head of Strategic Policy Engagement, Stockholm Environment Institute
Maria Persson Gulda, Chief Technical Officer, H2 Green Steel
Sundus Cordelia Ramli, CCO for Power-to-X
Concepcion Boo Arias, Chief Advisor for Climate & Green Transition in Public & Regulatory Affairs at A.P. Møller Mærsk
Martina Montesino Malmberg, Research Program Manager, Sustainable Industry at the Swedish Energy Agency
Niels Angel, Project Leader Catena-X for CO2 and Sustainability at BMW
Perspective / The EU and Mercosur countries' treaty puts the two trade blocks in a position to lead towards responsible production of these materials for a green transition.
Event on 20 June – 28 June / SEI colleagues are taking part in events at LCAW to highlight global leadership in industry and energy transitions, climate resilience finance, and adaptation.
SEI report / This document offers a snapshot of the electric transmission sector in Colombia as of 2025.
