Tuesday 29 October 2019
Liberty Steel aims to be carbon neutral by 2030
Liberty Steel Group has announced its ambition to become the world's first carbon neutral steel company by 2030.
GFG Alliance plans to reorganise its steel businesses under the privately-owned multinational Liberty Steel Group, led by Sanjeev Gupta, by the end of this year through a merger of its upstream and downstream steel manufacturing, mining and distribution businesses around the world.
It is expected to employ 30,000 people in 10 countries.
The GREENSTEEL strategy aims to offset carbon emissions through investments in new environmentally-friendly technology such as hydrogen generated from renewable power to produce steel.
It focuses on using electric arc furnaces to recycle scrap steel, rather than producing all materials from scratch, as well as using renewable energy sources.
Steel from recycled scrap using fossil fuel-based energy is said to generate less than a third of the carbon emissions compared with primary steelmaking.
Liberty says its plants already recycle three million tonnes of scrap steel annually, with investments in electric arc furnaces underway in the UK, Australia and the US.
Its sites are also working to reduce transport emissions, cut electricity use and minimise waste.
Mr Gupta, Executive Chairman of the GFG Alliance said: “We are creating a new force in steel with the size, scale and agility to forge a path towards a sustainable future for our steel businesses and the communities in which we operate. Our integrated group will stretch around the world, with a financial and governance structure suitable for an intercontinental business of our size.
“Steel is the building block of modern life and the GFG Alliance has always put sustainable strategies at the heart of its business model. We recognise that becoming carbon neutral by 2030 is a very ambitious target but we have firm foundations already with our GREENSTEEL strategy in motion, and with technical viability of hydrogen usage for direct reduced iron now proven it gives us the confidence that such developments allow us to aim even higher with our goals.”
