China’s Steel Industry Marches Toward Green Development, Breaking New Ground for a Low-Carbon Future

The answer to “low carbon steel” can be found in China. In the global tide of sustainable development, the steel industry, as a major source of carbon emissions (accounting for about 8% of global total emissions), has seen its transformation and innovation become a focal point of societal attention. Currently, China’s steel industry is focusing on equipment upgrading and process transformation. With joint efforts across the entire industrial chain, it has set sail on a “green channel” driven by energy conservation and carbon reduction.

Edwin Basson, Director General of the World Steel Association, noted at the forum that the global steel industry faces enormous challenges in green transition, and no enterprise can remain isolated. Currently, China’s steel industry has become “cleaner” than any other country in the world.

Actively Pursuing Green Transformation

As the world’s leading steel producer, China’s steel industry is actively seeking transformation and upgrading amid current global economic challenges. He Wenbo believes that China’s steel industry follows a low-carbon development roadmap centered on “low consumption, low pollution, and low carbon emissions,” continuously promoting energy conservation, emission reduction, and green low-carbon development. “low carbon steel” is transitioning from a concept to action and from a vision to reality.

The green development strategy is not only an urgent need to address current challenges but also an inevitable choice for long-term planning. Zhang Zhixiang, Chairman and President of Jianlong Group, believes that the green low-carbon transition presents both enormous challenges and huge opportunities for Chinese steel enterprises. On the one hand, the steel industry has the largest carbon emissions in manufacturing, making carbon neutrality within a short period undoubtedly a massive challenge. On the other hand, after years of development, the steel industry has achieved high-level scientific research capabilities, a solid industrial foundation, and a rich downstream industrial ecosystem. Standing at the historical juncture of the global steel industry’s transition to green low-carbon, China’s steel industry has many advantages and boundless opportunities.

The steel industry is an energy-intensive sector, so taking a green low-carbon path is a “must.” To win the future, it must transform and upgrade, abandoning “black growth.” Therefore, more efficient production and lower-emission manufacturing are the current and future goals of China’s steel industry.

The steel industry’s steady promotion of deep and high-end transformation is not only to cater to market changes but also an inevitable choice to seek sustainable development in the context of era changes. Xu Lejiang stated that developing green industries can achieve “double” circulation of resources and energy within steel mills and between steel mills and cities. Because green industries refer not only to the narrow sense of energy conservation and environmental protection industries but also to the broad “grand steel industry,” requiring not only the “small circulation” of comprehensive utilization of resources and energy in the metallurgical process within the enterprise but also the “large circulation” of absorbing social waste resources between society and industries.

Technology Illuminates the Low-Carbon Future

In the future, China’s steel industry will face more carbon emission constraint challenges, making it imperative to accelerate low-carbon transformation.

Currently, “low carbon steel” has become a trend in line with future development. As the world’s largest steel producer and an active promoter of green transformation, China is leading the global steel green revolution with firm steps, making the steel industry “green.” From biological desulfurization to waste heat recovery, from intelligent management to unmanned operation, every innovation in steel enterprises is an important step toward a green future.

When the steel industry truly achieves the perfect integration of high-end and green, the underlying green foundation will be more solid, the color more vibrant, and the quality more excellent. For example, Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. has written the “green equation” into the entire production process with scientific and technological innovation, presenting a “hardcore answer sheet” of moving toward green, achieving a dual improvement in economic and environmental benefits.

“Low carbon steel” is not only about industry development but also about human survival. The concept of “low carbon steel” was proposed with the original intention of reducing carbon emissions in steel production through technological innovation and process optimization, achieving harmonious coexistence between production and the environment. However, the steel industry is considered one of the most difficult industries to decarbonize, and there is often an insurmountable gap between ideals and reality.

The green transformation of the steel industry can find answers in China, and green manufacturing, green products, and green industries are the core essences of the steel industry’s green transformation. Xu Lejiang believes that green manufacturing, manufacturing “green,” and green industries are the three inseparable layers of green steel.

Highlighting environmental benefits and sustainability, as well as service orientation and innovation, are typical characteristics of the green business model in steel, thus achieving the transformation from manufacturing to service and from product operation to environmental operation. Creating green products by steel enterprises means endowing steel products with ecological attributes, proactively adapting to the trend of steel variety reduction and sustainable development, accelerating product grade upgrading, and contributing more high-strength, long-life, corrosion-resistant, and lightweight products to society. On October 18, 2024, China’s “low-carbon emission steel” standard was officially released, and leading domestic steel enterprises successively launched low-carbon steel product brands. The leaping brand imprints witness the steel footprints of Made in China on the green track.

Huang Yixin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Nanjing Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., believes that the world is undergoing an industrial reconstruction with “carbon” as the yardstick. The expansion of the national carbon market is not only a “quenching furnace” forcing industrial leapfrogging but also a “forging table” reshaping industry competitive advantages and a “smelting furnace” for enterprise value reconstruction. “Low-carbon green development is the greatest certainty for steel enterprises in the face of future uncertainties,” said Xie Jiuyuan, Deputy General Manager of Hunan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd.

Béla Nagy Csaba, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of ArcelorMittal, stated that the steel industry is very difficult to decarbonize, but it is necessary to focus on the long term, looking 20 to 30 years ahead, not just a few years. Therefore, the industry should invest in supporting innovation and introduce “green technologies.” He Wenbo emphasized that in the future, China’s steel industry will face more carbon emission constraint challenges, and accelerating low-carbon transformation is imperative. Steel enterprises should independently develop new technologies, processes, and equipment around key areas such as flue gas treatment, comprehensive utilization of solid waste, and energy conservation and consumption reduction, vigorously promote the research and development of new low-carbon metallurgy technologies, expand new approaches to energy conservation and emission reduction, and use scientific and technological innovation to promote the balanced improvement of energy conservation and environmental protection levels in steel enterprises.