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Publish date: February 22, 2013
News
The High-level Round Table on the future of the European Steel Industry was set up in July 2012. It will serve as a platform for cooperation between the Commissioners for Industry and Employment, industry chief executives and trade unions.
Challenges for steel industry: economic crisis and climate change
The European steel industry is among the world leaders in environmental performance and resource efficiency; however it is facing some important challenges nowadays. Rising prices of raw materials and energy add to the challenges for the sector as a result of the fact that emerging economies started building their own capacity.
More importantly, high European standards of environmental sustainability and the shift to low-carbon economy require the steel producers to revise their long-term strategy. Very significant investments are needed given the overall industry emissions’ reduction target of 87% by 2050 outlined by the Commission and the fact that with the current technologies the emissions’ reduction potential is only around 10 %.
Need for CCS deployment and its challenges
CCS in industry is necessary on a broad scale after 2035, the EU low carbon Roadmap says. The assessment of HLR is that above the current 10% “further significant reductions can only be achieved by developing and deploying breakthrough technologies, possibly combined with CCS’”.
The EU steel industry is developing an intensive research agenda in the framework of ULCOS project which, since its start-up in 2004, led to identification of several technologies that will enable significant CO2 emission reductions in making steel.
However, even if the ULCOS technologies proved to be viable their deployment on industrial scale will require massive investments and can only materialise by 2030. Deployment after 2020 will depend not only on the success of demonstration projects but also on their deployment and operating costs as well as public acceptability.
Steel industry recommendations to the Commission
Economic pressure has to be taken into account when developing regulatory measures concerning CO2 reductions. There is a need for setting up a European mechanism to monitor data on CO2 emissions and energy efficiency of steel plants. Furthermore, the Commission should establish a support mechanism for investment in development and deployment of low-carbon technologies. Such a scheme could be funded by earmarked parts of Member States’ revenues from the sale of ETS allowances. Finally, the Commission should start developing the post-2020 climate policy framework. This should include measures to deal with CO2 and investment leakage risks.
Read full HLR recommendations here.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.