Steel industry eyes tech breakthroughs in decarbonization amid uphill battle: SIFW 2025

Published by:Zihuan Pan<>
29 May 2025 @ 12:28 UTC
The steel industry, which accounts for around 8% of global CO2 emissions, is grappling with the complex challenge of decarbonization amid the rise of sustainability targets, according to Zhong Shaoliang, deputy secretary general and chief representative of the Beijing office of World Steel Association (WSA).

On Tuesday May 27, at the Green Steel Forum of Singapore International Ferrous Week (SIFW) 2025, Zhong identified the steel industry’s challenges and opportunities in its transition toward decarbonization, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation, technological innovation and market demand.
Global crude steel production reached 1.88 billion tonnes in 2024, an increase of 77% from two decades earlier. Output is expected to rise by another 25% over the next 25 years, with much of the growth driven by industrialization and infrastructure development in India, Southeast Asia and Africa, Zhong said.
Conventional steelmaking routes to play key role in near future With limited supplies of scrap and DRI (direct reduced iron) feedstocks and given the time required to commercialize new technologies, the steel industry should focus on improving the operational efficiency of existing facilities and maximizing scrap use to reduce carbon emissions in the short to medium term, according to Zhong.
In the near future, the conventional steelmaking technologies will continue to play a key role, Zhong said.
Despite a significant expansion of electric-arc furnace (EAF) capacity around the world, WSA does not expect that the growing feedstocks of recycled steel and DRI will be enough to support more than 50% of global steel production by 2050.
According to the WSA, at least half of future steel demand will still need to be met via the blast furnace (BF) route, which poses a greater challenge on the decarbonization drive because BFs are more carbon intensive than EAFs.
WSA data shows that the emission intensity of the BF steelmaking route is about 2.33t CO2 per ton of crude steel produced, while EAF’s stands around 0.88t CO2 per ton. Currently, the integrated route accounts for 72% of global steel production.
New, transformative approach to ironmaking is required in longer term True transformation, however, lies in the development of breakthrough technologies — a process that will take time, investment and cross-sector collaboration, according to Zhong.
Several promising technologies are under development, Zhong said, including using CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage) or biomass in the conventional BF route, replacing hydrogen for carbon as a reductant, and using electricity in an electrolysis-based process.
These innovations offer a pathway to near-zero emission steelmaking, but commercial-scale deployment remains years away given the costs concerns, he added.
Technology costs for carbon capture and hydrogen use in the steel industry are expected to decrease over the decade, but should remain about 40-50% higher than traditional routes by 2030, according to the WSA. Steelmaking via electrolysis-based process is not expected to become commercially available before 2035, Zhong said.
Market demand, incentives, common measurement critical to steel decarbonization Despite the growing demand for green steel, the willingness among steel consumers to pay premiums for green products is not enough to offset the extra cost of the technology transition in the short term, Zhong said.
The lack of demand and clear financial incentives for green steel has already led to delays, he said, noting that at least 10 million tonnes per year of hydrogen-based projects have been postponed by two years or more.
Clear guidelines to standardize how emissions from steel production are measured and how green steel is defined are also critical to the decarbonization of the global steel industry, according to Zhong.
Such efforts are underway. The WSA, in collaboration with the World Trade Organization (WTO), has introduced the Steel Standards Principles, which is aimed at harmonizing global methodologies and has been endorsed by 61 organizations.
In addition, WSA has published guidelines for greenhouse gas (GHG) chain of custody approaches in the steel industry to guide the calculation of GHG emission reductions from projects and their use as GHG reduction certificates.
It is clear that the decarbonization of the global steel industry will not happen overnight and will be expensive. This task cannot be done by us in steel alone. We need the support from many other sectors, Zhong said.