English
Chinese (Simplified)
Czech
Dutch
French
German
Hindi
Italian
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Romanian
SpanishAt a glance 0 min read Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of any element. Silver lining in solar panels help convert the sun’s energy into electrons, improving their efficiency and performance. Ever wondered how a solar panel converts the sun’s energy into electrons? It comes down to, among other things, about 20 grams of…
It’s time to get serious about the environmental impact of producing steel and aluminium
The metals industry is facing a trilemma
Manufacturing these two key industrial metals accounts for over 10% of all the world’s direct emissions from use of fossil fuels. By 2050, the global demand for steel and aluminium – foundation materials and the building blocks of modern life – is expected to be double the level of 2012.
Clearly this is a conflict and fundamental change is needed.
With this in mind, we have announced our ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030 – or as we call it, CN30.
This does not mean that we will have no emissions, or indeed that we will abandon traditional practices overnight.
This will require strategic long-term thinking and it presents an opportunity for a change in mindset.
So how do we plan to transition to GREENSTEEL?
We see two major pathways depending on the local market dynamics.
1 - Combine steel scrap recycling with renewable power, most suited to mature economies with abundant scrap arisings such as we are pursuing in the UK and the Czech Republic
2 - Introduce breakthrough technology to address emissions from primary steelmaking – this includes hydrogen steel making and DRI - such as we are pursuing in Australia and Romania
Here are the five key enabling factors that are vital to the transition to GREENSTEEL
This needs to balance incentives with regulation. Implement policy that is too strict too quickly, adding costs or reducing competitiveness, you compromise industry’s ability to invest in the transition, but if you do nothing the industry won’t move quickly enough. Policy incentives are therefore required to support industry and ensure that companies which implement low carbon technologies are rewarded.
Abundant, secure and cheap renewable energy is required. Scrap will increasing become a precious commodity will high-quality iron ore for Direct Reduced iron (DRI) and Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) production will be key. In that respect we believe primary production will gravitate towards geographies best placed to supply these inputs competitively.
Demand for green steel is still low across the steel consuming sectors but growing particularly in automotive and in public sector procurement criteria. We believe demand will increase quickly as green steel become available and that will attract a premium.
The transition to low carbon technologies will be expensive. According to the Net Zero Steel Initiative the sector will need to invest more than $36bn each year to meet the high demand of the future and fund the transition to low carbon technologies. It is clear that steel companies on their own cannot make all this investment and will require support from Governments (policy and investment) and the global financial industry
The most important resource of all. The demographics of the global steel industry, particularly in the west, are against us with an ageing workforce and fewer and fewer young people seeing the steel industry as a sector of choice. At LIBERTY over 20% of our workforce is over 55. But we are taking action through the development of our GREENSTEEL Academy, which aims to upskill the plant’s current workforce and encourage new people into the industry. The GFG Foundation is also seeking to inspire future generations into our industry through education and work placements, with programmes already set up in Australia, Romania and the UK, and plans to into the Czech Republic.
GFG Alliance’s GREENSTEEL journey starts with magnetite
We are putting in place the building blocks for our transition to GREENSTEEL with our magnetite expansion project in Australia, which is important because high-quality processed magnetite ore is essential to the DRI process for making GREENSTEEL.
In April we announced the first phase of our magnetite expansion project which will increase production to 2.5mtpa. The second phase is set to lift production to 5mtpa to ensure there is enough high-quality iron ore for DRI production at our plant in Whyalla. We have big plans which are taking shape today
In April we announced the first phase of our magnetite expansion project which will increase production to 2.5mtpa. The second phase is set to lift production to 5mtpa to ensure there is enough high-quality iron ore for DRI production at our plant in Whyalla. We have big plans which are taking shape today
Read about our investment plans to decarbonise our primary steelmaking
At a glance 0 min read Steel and aluminium are the building blocks of our everyday lives, and demand is expected to double for both in the next 30 years. The production of both metals contributes about 10% of global carbon emissions. Many countries are legislating to become carbon neutral by 2050 – meaning it’s…
At a glance 0 min read Steel is an essential part of modern society, and is an ‘endless’ recyclable material. On average, 1.89 tonnes of carbon dioxide is release for every tonne of steel manufactured using blast furnaces. We can build upon the success of the GREENSTEEL manufacturing approach, recycling scrap metal and using sustainably…
At a glance GFG Alliance is helping to reinvigorate enterprises with an uncertain future The Alliance’s goal is to develop sustainable industrial ecosystems. GFG is helping drive economic growth and employment through it’s operations in North America and Europe GFG Alliance’s principal goal is to develop sustainable industrial eco-systems across all our businesses. We do…
Key initiatives we have underway to decarbonise our businesses
INTRODUCTION We have been developing a natural capital approach to the management of the JAHAMA Highland Estate over the last two years. This paper describes the estate and summarises the work we have been doing to establish a baseline. It also reviews the difficulties we have encountered and proposes some wider suggestions for further development.…
What is the GFG Foundation? The GFG Foundation is a registered charity, founded by Nicola and Sanjeev Gupta and established in the UK in 2017, expanded into Australia in 2019, and more recently into Romania in July 2021. Plans are in place to launch into the Czech Republic and Poland during 2022. The GFG Foundation seeks…
Our CN30 Campaign at events
The global pandemic isn’t slowing us down from delivering a low-carbon, more sustainable future, writes Sanjeev Gupta. With challenge, comes opportunity – and one of the positives to come from COVID-19 is the realisation we have a once-in-a-generation chance to shift our approach and thinking around manufacturing and renewable energy. We’ve been building upon our…
Mark Elborne, President, GFG Alliance Global Advisory Board, talks about the role of the newly established Board. Q/ What will the Global Advisory Board’s priorities be? GFG Alliance has grown fast in recent years as it works to tackle the steel and aluminium industry’s urgent need to cut carbon emissions and modernise manufacturing processes. Sanjeev…
At a glance 0 min read With the age of fossil fuels coming to an end, the role of hydrogen is in the spotlight. Both steel and hydrogen have problems – put them together and they solve this. A decarbonised steel industry can be the foundation for a new, green industrial revolution. Australia is well…
