SSAB at COP29: Time to commit to ambitious climate plans to drive the transition forward
SSAB is joining Business Sweden’s delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Our hope is that countries increase their national ambitions to limit climate change and to create enabling conditions for investments and a competitive transformation. SSAB will describe our journey to near zero-emission steelmaking as a way of exemplifying what breakthrough technologies are available to decarbonize the steel industry.
Last year’s COP marked a moment of progress as the need to transition away from fossil fuels was mentioned for the first time in the final text. Now it is time for policymakers to commit to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that provide clarity on the path away from fossil fuels and that enables investments in green technology.
“SSAB believes that ambition and speed in the climate transition must increase. We need to phase out fossil fuels and it must cost to emit. Global carbon pricing mechanisms and common emission standards are needed to set the foundation for faster industrial decarbonization,” says Martin Pei, Chief Technology Officer at SSAB.
SSAB believes there are several promising proposals for establishing a common standard on near zero-emission steel, and we support the Steel Standard Principles that were launched at COP28. Now policymakers need to take the next step and enact common emission measurement rules.
Trade rules also need to focus on the sustainability aspects of the material rather than blanket tariffs.
“Creating internationally accepted trade rules for near zero-emission steel products would allow for significant global CO2 emissions reductions by incentivizing the roll-out of clean steel production technologies,” Martin Pei says.
SSAB will talk about our efforts to decarbonize steel production by switching from coking coal to fossil-free electricity as the primary energy source. SSAB plans to transform its entire Nordic production system to carbon emission-free steelmaking using both recycled steel and virgin iron ore as the raw material.
In 2023, SSAB introduced a near zero-emission steel based on recycled scrap, SSAB ZeroTM, which is produced using fossil-free energy. Together with mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall, SSAB has also developed the HYBRIT® technology. This technology uses hydrogen, made with fossil-free electricity, to make sponge iron from iron ore pellets. The by-product is water instead of the large amounts of CO2 emitted from blast furnaces. The iron is melted to steel in electric arc furnaces run on fossil-free electricity. This process virtually removes CO2 emissions from the steelmaking process. So far, SSAB has produced about 1,000 tonnes of steel based on the HYBRIT® technology.
SSAB will among other things join several seminars on clean technology innovations and the steel value-chain as well as participate in a high-level panel to mark progress on the Steel Standards Principles work.
Find out more about the events involving SSAB and Business Sweden:
For further information, please contact:
Anna Molin, Press Officer, SSAB, [email protected], phone: +46 76 110 46 76