China’s younger steel industry slows net zero path, BHP CEO says

CHINA’S steel industry is young compared to Europe’s, and its transition to net zero may be slower as it takes a different path to reach government-mandated decarbonisation goals, according to BHP Group’s chief executive officer Mike Henry.

While certain unique factors have led European steelmakers to make faster plans to carbon neutrality, China may be at a disadvantage in the global race to remove carbon from heavy industry because its blast furnaces are younger and not due for retirement anytime soon, Henry said in remarks prepared for delivery at the China Development Forum in Beijing on Sunday (Mar 24).

Steelmaking accounts for roughly 8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. China produces approximately 50 per cent of the world’s steel, with a goal to replace 15 per cent of its output with electric arc furnaces by 2025.

Europe is replacing its traditional coal-fired blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces and recycling vast reserves of scrap steel, Henry said. China however is continuing to add steel on a net basis, meaning the availability of scrap is low.

“Given younger, less carbon intensive blast furnaces, and less scrap availability, Chinese steelmakers are understandably looking at continuing to use these assets rather than replacing them earlier than otherwise would be the case,” the top executive of the world’s biggest miner said.

Manufacturers in China are showing their commitment by using technologies such as hydrogen injection, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage to offset rising amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, he said, adding BHP is supporting such efforts through several partnerships.