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Steelmaking
The future of low emissions steelmaking
The world depends on steel every day. Endlessly recyclable, and with the highest strength-to-weight ratio of all building materials, steel’s durability and versatility makes it a trusted foundation for our homes, bridges, hospitals and public transport networks. Importantly, steel underpins the transition to a low carbon future, as it is essential for renewable energy infrastructure.
According to worldsteel, the world produces nearly 2 billion tonnes of steel per year (1,892 billion tonnes in 2023), and looking forward, it must keep pace to meet society's growing needs.
While steel products deliver value to customers in support of their environmental goals, the processes that produce them do require significant amounts of energy and contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) (also called CO2) emissions. worldsteel reports that the industry generates between 7 and 9 per cent of global CO2 emissions.
GHG or CO2 emissions - CO2e (Carbon dioxide emissions) - are measured in terms of intensity in tonnes CO2e per tonne raw steel.
worldsteel data* indicates the global steel industry produces an average emissions intensity for its steelmaking activities of around 1.92 tonnes CO2e per tonne of crude steel cast.
By comparison, BlueScope’s steelmaking activities produced an average 1.51 CO2e in FY2023, and more recently, 1.44 CO2e in FY2024, less than the global average - a trend reflecting our ongoing focus on emissions reduction.
worldsteel observes that throughout the global industry, companies are focused on finding ways to lower their GHG emissions, and new forms of collaboration are emerging to take on the challenge.
* Figures based on 2023 worldsteel data available at Sustainability Indicators 2024 report.
As worldsteel data* indicates, globally, 72 per cent of steel currently produced is ‘new’ or ‘primary’ steel, which starts with the process to first convert iron ore to iron before reducing the iron to steel. Primary steel is mostly produced in large-scale, integrated steel plants using traditional blast furnace (BF) ironmaking and then basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking technologies. Direct reduced ironmaking (DRI) is an alternative to the blast furnace route. Currently, however, DRI is available in only a few regions and operates at a significantly lower production capacity.
Approximately 20 per cent of steel produced today is ‘secondary’ steel produced from electric arc furnaces (EAFs), which rely heavily on scrap steel and electricity.
In almost all cases, EAF and combination DRI/EAF technologies are lower in carbon and energy intensity than the BF/BOF combination. Scrap is a very low emissions, recycled material, so increased use of scrap plays a critical role in industry decarbonisation and improving emissions intensity. But there is currently not enough quality scrap to meet global demand for steel, which presents a challenge
For the foreseeable future, the manufacture of primary steel will continue to be a central part of the steel industry, and the world will still rely heavily on integrated steel plants that use BF/BOF technology. As economies mature and more steel reaches the end of its lifecycle, the opportunity to recover more steel for use in EAFs will increase.
BlueScope’s three steelmaking operations use different iron and steelmaking technologies and raw materials. Both Port Kembla Steelworks in Australia and Glenbrook Steelworks in New Zealand are integrated iron and steelmaking operations producing primary steel, Port Kembla through BF/BOF technology. North Star BlueScope Steel (North Star) is a ‘mini mill’ steelmaking operation, producing secondary steel mainly using scrap as the key raw material processed through an EAF.
These technology terms are explained further in the following section, giving examples of BlueScope's iron and steelmaking technologies - both existing and those being explored. worldsteel also has a wealth of information about the story of steelmaking at worldsteel.org/about-steel/steelmaking-process/.
Blast furnace (BF)/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) technology makes steel broadly in a 3-stage process: the mining of iron-rich raw materials like iron ore, reduction of iron into 'pig' iron, and smelting of pig iron into raw steel.
Firstly, iron-rich iron ore, and carbon-rich coke (sourced from coal) are combined with oxygen in a hot blast furnace (BF). Under extreme heat, carbon-oxygen based gases are generated and act as a reductant to reduce the iron oxide (Fe2O3) within the ore to a molten iron state. (Fe). Chemically: 2C + O2 → 2CO (the carbon-oxygen step to produce carbon-based gas) Fe2O3 + 3CO → 2Fe + 3CO2 (carbon-based gas reduces iron oxide to molten iron (Fe) and greenhouse gases (CO2)
The iron is smelted in another hot basic oxygen furnace (BOF) that uses oxygen and other additives to remove excess carbon and form steel grades to required quality specifications.
In addition to steel, this BF/BOF technology creates by-products which are further processed, including CO2 which can be recycled around the plant as an energy source, with excess being cleaned and emitted as greenhouse gases.
Watch these videos to learn more
In this video, you'll learn about the iron- and steel-making processes from our people at the Port Kembla Steelworks in Australia.
Take a five-minute tour of the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) at the Port Kembla Steelworks.
Before we make steel, we need to make iron. You can watch the process in this video.
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a steelmaking furnace designed to use electricity, in the form of an electric arc, to heat and melt steel scrap and other already processed iron (eg pig iron or hot briquetted iron) to over 1,000°C.
EAFs rely on large amounts of high voltage electricity, where available and viable, generated from low GHG emission or renewable energy. The viability of the EAF process is influenced by several factors, including access to adequate quantities of quality steel scrap and the cost, reliability and emissions intensity of local electricity supply.
Watch these videos about the EAFs at two of BlueScope's three steelmaking sites, technology that is viable in these instances due to the necessary enablers being in place:
For more information on our net zero GHG emissions goal and enablers, see further down this page.
Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) technology offers an alternative method for producing iron, typically without the need for metallurgical coal, unlike the blast furnace process.
DRI is the term given to a group of processes for making iron from ore (in the form of lumps, pellets, or fines) using a heated reducing gas, most commonly natural gas or gas produced from heating coal. The industry is exploring the use of green hydrogen as a reducing gas, however commercialisation remains a challenge. To be converted into steel, DRI needs to be further processed in an EAF or BOF. As this video describes, we are exploring a DRI process for our Port Kembla Steelworks.
In working towards our 2050 net zero goal, we have set interim emissions intensity reduction targets for steelmaking and non-steelmaking activities.
Targeting a 12 per cent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions from our steelmaking operations by 2030 against a FY2018 baseline (measured as tonnes CO2e per tonne of raw steel produced). This target is equivalent to a 1 per cent year-on-year emission intensity reduction (from 2018) across our steelmaking activities.
Targeting a 30 per cent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions from our midstream non-steelmaking activities by 2030 against a FY2018 baseline (measured as tonnes CO2e per despatched tonne of steel). We report annual performance against these targets in our annual Sustainability Report. and Sustainability Data Supplement.
Our goal is to pursue net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions across our business by 2050.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions
According to common practice, we characterise steelmaking GHG emissions in accordance with the GHG Protocol:
Iron and steelmaking a major focus
Iron and steelmaking activities across our three steelmaking sites (Glenbrook, New Zealand; Port Kembla, Australia; North Star, US) account for 92 per cent of our total Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions.
Non-steelmaking (midstream and downstream activities) account for the remaining 8 per cent of our GHG emissions profile.
Enablers of steel decarbonisation
We acknowledge that achieving our 2050 net zero goal is highly dependent on several enablers including:
Firmed, affordable renewables
Access to internationally cost-competitive, firmed large-scale renewable energy.
Technology evolution
Development and diffusion of ironmaking technologies to viable and commercial scale.
Hydrogen and natural gas availability
Availability of competitively priced green hydrogen, with natural gas enabling the transition to green hydrogen.
Raw materials supply
Access to appropriate quality and sufficient quantities of economic raw materials.
Public policy
Supportive and consistent policies across all these enablers to underpin decarbonisation.
While technology continues to be a strong area of focus, we understand that technology alone will not deliver the desired transition towards low or zero emissions iron and steelmaking; our approaches must also prioritise progress on the remaining key enablers.
A major priority in our approaches to climate action is a focus on our steelmaking activities at PKSW in Australia, Glenbrook in New Zealand, and North Star in North America, given they together constitute 92 percent of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. In developing our decarbonisation pathway, we must consider the five key enablers within the local business and operating context for each of these three steelmaking sites.
As the following case studies showcase, because the three sites have different contexts, our decarbonisation approach differs for each.
Steelmaking case studies
North Star BlueScope Steel mini mill benefits from reliable scrap supply, relatively lower cost, nuclear energy and supportive public policy, which supports the growth of low emissions steel production.
Read the case study.
Glenbrook Steelworks will reduce the need for 50 per cent of its current iron production requirements and reduce emissions by up to 55 per cent with the use of ample regional scrap supply into an EAF by 2026, supported by renewable electricity and government co-investment.
Port Kembla Steelworks will decarbonise in the short term through efficiency improvements and increasing scrap input. The reline and upgrade of #6 blast furnace will be an important bridge to future decarbonisation pathways for Australian operations as, longer term, we explore transformational steelmaking technologies. Read the case study.
In 2018, BlueScope set a mid-term target to reduce emissions intensity across our steelmaking plants by 12 per cent by 2030. In FY2024, BlueScope reported a 12.0 per cent reduction in aggregated steelmaking emissions intensity against our FY2018 baseline (1.639 down to 1.443 tCO2e per tonne crude steel), which aligns with our 2030 target.
This was primarily driven by the ramp-up of the North Star expansion, which contributed to an increased proportion of BlueScope’s production volumes coming from North Star’s low emissions process. Further incremental operating and process efficiencies at Glenbrook and Port Kembla also contributed to this outcome.
Looking ahead, all BlueScope steelmaking facilities will continue to focus on improving emissions intensity performance through ongoing process efficiencies and major projects, including the 2025/26 commissioning and ramp-up of the EAF in New Zealand, the debottlenecking project at North Star, and Port Kembla's work program to reline and upgrade its #6 blast furnace and explore low emissions technology options. For more detail on emission trends for our three steelmaking plants and approaches to lowering steelmaking emissions, see our second Climate Action Report.
Notes 1 & 2: In FY2024, historical, baseline and target data were updated. See footnotes 1 & 2 on page 15 - Climate Action Report.
More information
Our Sustainability Report Suite provides transparent and meaningful disclosure about our sustainability performance across a range of topics.
Read BlueScope’s second Climate Action report.
View our case studies that demonstrate our strength in steel.
Get in touch with someone from our global team or send us an online enquiry.