News » A Green Deal on Steel video series - episode 2
A Green Deal on Steel video series - episode 2
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This is the second episode in EUROFER's Green Deal on Steel series: the importance of energy in the success of the transition to low-carbon steelmaking.
Energy is key to achieving the steel industry’s low-carbon goals. The transition to carbon-lean steelmaking will require 400 terawatt-hours of CO2-free electricity per year.
This is almost the total electricity demand of France. It is seven times what the steel industry purchases from the grid today. This electricity needs to be ‘green’ and affordable.
Of this, nearly 250 terawatt-hours is needed for the production of 5.5 million tonnes of hydrogen, which would be used in new processes to make ‘green’ steel.
EU policymakers must help create a market for the resulting green steel, which may cost 35 to 100 percent more to produce than it does with the highly optimised processes currently in use.
The benefits to society from the availability of green electricity and green industrial products, such as green steel, are huge – so Europe needs to strive to make the energy transition as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
Brussels, 10 September 2024 – The Draghi Report thoroughly identifies the bottlenecks to both the EU industry's decarbonisation and competitiveness. The proposed recommendations for energy-intensive industries, including on energy, trade, carbon leakage, financing and lead markets, should be integrated into the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal and implemented with concrete measures as a matter of urgency. Alignment across different policies is crucial, and should be accompanied by sector-specific initiatives to enable the transition of each industry including steel, asks the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 05 September 2024 – The latest developments in the steel sector and across critical value chains are worrying signs of a steady deterioration, endangering the survival and the transition of steelmakers and their key manufacturing customers in Europe, such as automotive. A Clean Industrial Deal including swift and radical measures in EU industrial, energy and trade policies, is the last chance to ensure Europe’s prosperity and shield European industry from cheap imports driven by third countries’ unfair trade practices, overcapacity and lower climate ambition, urges the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 25 July 2024 – Major indicators in the European steel market show a steeper-than-expected downward trend, further impacting the outlook for this year and the next. Poor demand conditions, driven by ongoing factors such as high energy prices, persistent inflation, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, are exacerbated by a manufacturing crisis affecting the largest steel-using sectors, including construction and automotive. According to EUROFER’s latest Economic and Steel Market Outlook, apparent steel consumption is further deteriorating. After a slump (-3.1%) in the first quarter of 2024, its rebound for the full year has been revised downwards (to +1.4% from +3.2%), as well as for 2025 (+4.1% from +5.6%). Similarly, output in steel-using sectors, after a decline in the first quarter (-1.9%), is projected to experience a deeper-than-expected recession (-1.6% from -1%). A recovery is anticipated only in 2025 (+2.3%). Steel imports continue to show historically high shares (27%).