Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Steel Ministry Asks Stakeholders To Lower Emissions

Industry urged to invest in green technologies to meet the commitments made at COP26
July 4, 2022
Greenhouse gases

The Ministry of Steel has asked the stakeholders to develop a time-bound action plan to lower emissions in the steel industry, which would be in line with the government’s COP26 commitments. The Steel Minister, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, in a meeting, urged them to make concerted efforts for lowering the emissions of the industry.

The iron and steel industry globally accounts for around 8% of total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on an annual basis, whereas in India it contributes 12% to the total CO2 emissions. Thus, the Indian steel industry needs to reduce its emissions substantially in view of the commitments made at the COP26 climate change conference last year.

In November 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Glasgow conference that India will achieve net zero by 2070.

Discussions were also held on the present scenario, the way forward for promoting the transition towards green steel, various strategies and technologies that can be adopted by the steel industry to produce green steel, and technology readiness levels, among others.

The use of green hydrogen in producing iron and the use of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies for lowering emissions were also discussed at the meeting.

The minister said, “R&D project proposals have been in joint collaborative mode from reputed academic institutions, research laboratories and steel companies for the development of new alternate processes and technologies to address the issues faced by the sector, providing financial assistance under the R&D Scheme for the Financial Year 2022-23”.