Salzgitter will from 2026 supply all the European plants of the BMW Group with low-CO2 steel, Kallanish learns from the German steelmaker.
The companies have concluded an agreement for serial delivery from the low-CO2 process route. According to Salzgitter, this makes BMW Group the world’s first automotive manufacturer to have concluded an agreement of this kind. Based on the established electrified steel route at the Peine mill, preparations for the transformation to green steel serial production are already under way at Salzgitter.
Five years ago, BMW and Salzgitter already established a closed-loop materials flow for reusable steel from BMW’s Leipzig plant. When supplying the plant with steel coil, Salzgitter takes away steel to be recycled from the stamping plants, for instance from punching out doors, and feeds it into the production of new steel. The partners have now set about expanding this cooperation.
Last autumn, BMW signed an agreement with Swedish start-up H2 Green Steel to procure steel produced exclusively using hydrogen and renewable energies from 2025 onwards. Together, the two agreements will supply over 40% of the steel required by the company’s European plants and save around 400,000 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions, BMW says. Its press plants in Europe process more than half a million tonnes of steel annually.
In addition to sourcing low-carbon steel, the group has also invested in an innovative method for carbon-free steel production developed by American start-up Boston Metal.
Christian Koehl Germany
