Report finds that supply chains for major industries in Australia, including iron and steel, could cut annual CO2 to 17m tonnes by 2050

2 thoughts on “Report finds that supply chains for major industries in Australia, including iron and steel, could cut annual CO2 to 17m tonnes by 2050”

1. The core hypothesis is that the world will continue to need vast amounts of steel and cement. I was discussing with Ukrainians that the rebuild for the residential sector should be wood, easy to factory fabricate, lasts just as long as “traditional” and a much better thermal performance.

   Two points: Sitra in 2018 produced an outstandingly good report on the circular economy – EU could reduce primary steel consumption from 110MTs to perhaps 30MTs – which makes it relatively simple to move to direct reduction of iron ore using hydrogen. Australian iron ore companies have now understood that shipping semi-finished product (or even finished product) is much more profitable than just selling iron ore. Blessed with more sunshine than you can wave a stick at, PV heading towards an LCOE of 1eurocent/kWh ( and thus H2 at a price that oil & gas companies will struggle to compete with) it is not difficult to see the attractions of selling to the Chinese et al – low/zero carbon finished steel. Where this leaves Chinese steel producers is anybody’s guess.

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   1. Thanks for this excellent comment, Mike

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