COP26: SSAB pledges fossil-free steel products by 2026

Swedish steelmaker SSAB has confirmed at the COP26 summit it will be launching its first set of products made using fossil-free steel in 2026 - a first for the industry - as it looks to become the first major steelmaker to operate at net-zero emissions by the mid-decade.

Steelmaking is currently the highest emitter of carbon emissions in Sweden, according to the group's Vice President for Sustainable Business and Public Affairs Thomas Hörnfeldt, accounting for roughly 10% of total emissions, with the industry currently scrambling to find ways to actively reduce emissions.

Read more: World's first fossil-free steel produced by Sweden's HYBRIT

"This is something we want to change", Hörnfeldt told reporters at the COP26 conference in Glasgow on Tuesday. "And we're not simply talking about reducing emissions. We're talking about eliminating them."

"For us, we will be launching fossil-free steel as a commercial product in 2026 and by 2045 at the latest, we should be an entirely, and probably the world's first, fossil-free steel company", he added.

The group have been targeting the 2026 goal for green steel products for a number of years, but the announcement at COP26 cements the group's goals.

The group has previously unveiled the world's first net-zero steel bar which has been made using iron ore reduced using hydrogen instead of coal and coke, which was delivered to its first customer, German automaker Volvo, in August.

Officially made by HYBRIT, a joint venture between SSAB, state-owned energy company Vattenfall, and mining company LKAB, the group is aiming to have completed plant product trials by 2024.

In addition, a feasibility study was conducted into fossil-free steel as early as 2016. Pre-feasibility findings concluded fossil-free steel, given today's price of electricity and coal, would be 20-30% more expensive on average, but will eventually be able to compete at a similar level on the market to traditionally-sourced steel.

SSAB is also planning on launching its net-zero aims by pledging to cut emissions by as much as 25% by 2025 through the conversion of its blast furnaces in Oxelösund, Sweden, to an electric arc furnace.

Read more: Steeling the future: Using hydrogen to make green steel

This will be followed by the conversion of furnaces in Luleå, Sweden and Raahe, Finland over the next 15 years to eliminate a significant amount of remaining carbon emissions.

Should Sweden's steel sector as a whole manage to decarbonise, that will mean 10% fewer emissions the nation has to worry about actively reducing.

The company's President Martin Lindqvist described the steelmaking process as a "breakthrough for SSAB" and "proof it is possible to significantly reduce emissions in the steel sector".

In addition, on October 13, SSAB also revealed its fossil-free steel had been used in the manufacture of a load carrier for mining and quarrying, developed by Volvo.

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