In a wide-ranging interview, Sanjeev Gupta has talked to S&P Global Platts about GFG Alliance’s focus on environmentally-sustainable steel and aluminium, and the group’s progress towards its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
As much of the global debate around the post-Covid economic recovery centres on how far public and private investment needs to consider ‘green’ targets, Sanjeev explained why low-carbon technology is integral to GFG Alliance’s strategy.
Steel and aluminium demand over the next 30 years is forecast to double and yet over that period most countries also want to slash their emissions,” Sanjeev said.
While demand for low-carbon steel and aluminium will be driven by customers, Sanjeev also emphasised the logic of directing investment required by GFG’s plants towards technology of the future rather than existing production methods.
Towards the end of 2019, GFG Alliance’s LIBERTY Steel Group became the first large-scale steel producer to make a commitment to become carbon-neutral by 2030. Its aluminium business, ALVANCE, followed suit with the same commitment earlier this year.
“Our ambition is to be carbon neutral, which means all our steel and aluminium production will be green supported by our renewable energy business, which is also green,” Sanjeev said.
Asked about progress towards reaching these industry-leading targets, Sanjeev highlighted recent memorandums of understanding signed with Romanian government, industry and academia to press ahead with Europe’s first largescale GREENSTEEL project at LIBERTY Steel Group’s plant in Galati. Similar plans for an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) facility for low-carbon steel production in Whyalla, South Australia, illustrate the global progress towards CN30 across GFG.
Watch the highlights of Sanjeev’s interview, including his thoughts on the role of hydrogen in future steel-making:
