Committee launches inquiry examining green steel

In the latest stage of its Technological Innovation and Climate Change inquiry, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has announced that it is to look at ‘green steel.’

Environmental Audit Committee chairman, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said ‘Steel is the bedrock for many of our low-carbon aspirations from electricity generation to our modes of transport. But wind turbines and electric vehicles have a major carbon footprint due to the steel used to manufacture them. As the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has recently pointed out, the decision point for investment to renew the UK’s steel installations is fast approaching, without a clear lead from the Government on the technology to adopt.

‘We will be exploring the technological innovations available to make the steel sector more environmentally friendly. I encourage all those engaged in transforming this essential industry to consider contributing to this stage of our inquiry.

Decarbonisation of the sector is a real test of the Government’s mettle and the ingenuity and ambition of UK industry. Successful use of technological advances to green the industry will make a substantial contribution to the goal of Net Zero Britain.’

The Committee is inviting written submissions on the following:

• The technologies there are to produce “green steel”; how close they are to commercialisation; and the benefits and risks of each
• The relationship between low-carbon steelmaking technologies and the development of other decarbonising technologies
• The timescales needed to achieve fossil fuel feedstock replacement and fossil fuel-free energy throughout the supply chain for steel products
• The targets the Government should set for low-carbon steelmaking in the UK
• The policy support for low-carbon steelmaking in the UK provided in the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy
• How effective the Clean Steel Fund is expected to be in helping to deliver decarbonised fuel capacity in the UK
• Any additional policy support required to encourage the transition to low-carbon steelmaking
• The desirability or otherwise of establishing a low-carbon steelmaking pilot at a UK site
• The consequences to the UK steel sector from a failure to invest in alternative technologies in a globally competitive market

To contribute to the IOM3 response, please contact Rachel by 3 March using the button below.