It may take over a decade to adopt viable methods of green steel production to meet carbon-neutral goals, Chairman of the World Steel Association Sajjan Jindal said.
He also said even as switching to clean hydrogen-based steel making technique is the most likely immediate solution to achieve net-zero targets, the investment required to set up new plants while shutting down the old ones will be a major barrier in this transition.
A sustainable transition will not come about on its own. The industry will have to take some bold steps collectively towards developing sustainable solutions, he added.
Curtailing carbon emissions, he said, will require major upgrades at the steel mills, and the initiative will have to be taken at the industry as well as policy level.
The industry will need an entirely new, transformative approach, which includes using carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) with the existing fossil fuel-based iron making (BF-BOF), substituting hydrogen for carbon as a reductant, and using renewable electrical energy, he added.
With the deployment of the best available technologies, low-carbon steelmaking would become competitive with respect to conventional methods.
While the transition period may involve high initial capital costs, proactive government support through well-designed policy will ensure that the industry is not discouraged from making this transition, the industrialist said.