Global consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) has made a set of recommendations to help the Indian steel industry towards manufacturing green steel in a report published on Jun 28.
The report notes that the Middle East has the highest share of electric arc furnace (EAF) based steel manufacturing at 90pc, followed by North America at 68pc, Europe at 66pc, South America at 32pc and the CIS at 29pc. However, Asia has the lowest rate of EAF manufacturing at 19pc, which must change if Indian and Asian steelmakers are to move towards sustainable steelmaking, the report noted.
However, the journey of Asian steelmakers, especially those in India and China will be different from the steps being taken in Europe and North America, EY stated, as the two countries will need to approach the transition at a slower pace compared to the West due to newer capital assets and cost pressures.
To reach this goal, especially for Indian steelmakers, EY has recommended six action points. They include:
- – Making low-cost adjustments to the process and capital on existing technologies to ensure greenhouse gas reductions
- – Assessing and adopting clean technologies such as hydrogen-based production, carbon capture and smelting reduction process to balance risk, capital, and product quality
- – Producing sustainable steel to adjust to growing demand
- – Improving sustainability goals per shareholders’ expectations
- – Digitizing operations to add value to the steel products and services
- – Partnering with stakeholders including the government, steel associations, and communities to improve the steel quality using EAFs
Moreover, the EY report states that these steps will be imperative for steelmakers looking to reduce emissions in keeping with global decarbonization standards, which can give them an edge over competing products from the West. It added that while the transition may be uneven across regions, a gradual increase in investments towards EAFs and using more recycled material will help steelmakers to reduce their carbon footprint significantly.