China’s steel industry, which is under pressure to decarbonize as it is the biggest steel producer in the world, is accelerating efforts to shift towards green steel production with the aim to maintain competitiveness given the approaching carbon levy on exports to Europe starting from 2026, according to Reuters. Chinese local governments have approved 7.1 million mt of new electric arc furnace-based steelmaking capacity in the first half this year.
China’s efforts to cut production and increase use of electric arc furnace could reduce carbon emissions from the global steel industry by 200 million mt by 2026, equal to the entire emissions of the EU steel industry.