European steel companies must scale up their decarbonization technologies within the coming decade or risk exhausting their allocated emissions allowances early, according to a report released on Tuesday September 14.
The report, "Steeling for Net Zero," by climate researcher Industry Tracker, found that selected European steel companies have less than 26% of their carbon budget remaining and must rapidly shift their business models if they are to achieve net zero emissions by the Paris climate agreement deadline of 2050.
The report assessed 10 of the largest and most influential steel companies using blast furnaces (BFs) within Europe, the CIS region and Turkey, which together account for 68% of primary steel production in the combined region. Those companies were ArcelorMittal, SSAB, Voestalpine, Salzgitter, Thyssenkrupp, Tata Steel, Metinvest, Evraz, Severstal and Erdemir.
The analysis found that, collectively, these companies have already used up three-quarters of their 2050 carbon budget. In a worst-case projection, three of them have already exceeded their budget from locked-in emissions.
Six companies, of which five are European, use an internal carbon price as part of their decision-making processes.