The Net Zero Steel Sector Transition Strategy

Backed by some of the world’s leading steel sector players, the Mission Possible Partnership Net-Zero Steel Initiative has launched a sector transition strategy that lays out what it will take for the steel sector to reach net-zero by 2050. The strategy details the importance of early progress to avoid 1.3Gt of cumulative CO2 emissions and cut annual emissions by 37% by 2030 on the way to net zero by 2050. The pathway will have major implications for the energy system, where demand for electricity could increase by 11-13 times and where metallurgical coal demand would fall 80-90%. Annual investment of around $6 billion would be needed to 2050 to transition the global steel asset base to net zero.

The Net Zero Steel Sector Transition Strategy provides a shared vision for the industry’s low-carbon future, rooted in technical and economic reality. Fully realised, it would reduce the sector’s carbon share of global energy sector emissions from seven percent to less than one percent. It also provides detailed reference points for the changes that will be needed over the next 30 years to deliver deep decarbonisation of the sector. The plan will shape corporate target setting, inform priority actions, trade-offs and decisions by critical stakeholders, and enable a coherent set of commitments across the value chain, which together will unlock investment in zero-carbon solutions