Ministry of Steel Discussed Transition Towards Green Steel to Restrict Carbon Emissions in Steel Industry

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting for Ministry of Steel was convened on 6th May 2022 at Shimla to brainstorm on the topic “Transition towards Green Steel” under the Chairmanship of the Union Steel Minister, Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh. The Chairman urged upon the stakeholders to come together in development of a time bound action plan and concerted efforts for lowering of the emissions from the steel industry in line with the commitments made so that production of Green Steel can be fulfilled and promote “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

In this meeting, fruitful discussions were held between the Members of the Committee with the senior officials from Ministry of Steel and senior officials & experts from the steel industry, on the present scenario and the way forward for promoting the transition towards Green Steel. Various strategies & technologies that can be adopted by the steel industry to produce green steel, their pros & cons and their Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and when these are like to be available commercially were also discussed. The focus of the discussion was on the prospects of use of Green Hydrogen for use in producing iron and also the use of CCUS technologies for lowering the emissions in line with the commitments made in COP26. Government interventions required to address the issues & constrains and the way forward for producing Green Steel were also discussed.

MPs- S/Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato, Chandra Prakash Choudhary, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Prataprao Govindrao Patil Chikhlikar, S. Gnanathiraviam, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, Vijay Baghel and Akhilesh Prasad Singh took part in the meeting.

Iron and Steel sector is specially challenging with regard to reduction in Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) emissions, as use of fossil fuel based energy & reductant is deeply embedded in the production process. The emissions from the Indian iron & steel industry is higher primarily due to higher usage coal based energy source and as reductant. It is thus imperative for the Indian steel industry to reduce its emissions substantially and pressure to reduce it is growing by the day in view of the commitments made in the COP26.