Recycling alone will not be enough to decarbonise the steel industry, with a dual approach between primary and secondary needed, according to a new report reviewing the construction sector.
The report has been published by the Institution of Structural Engineers, British Constructional Steelwork Association and Climate Group’s SteelZero initiative to help policymakers and the construction sector achieve decarbonisation and reduce emissions, Kallanish learns.
The construction sector is one of the largest consumers of steel, with consumption accounting for around half of all production
The report notes that whilst 80-85% of steel is recovered and recycled at the end of its life, there is little evidence to suggest a substantial increase on this is achievable. To reduce global emissions, policy, investment and incentives must therefore focus on a dual decarbonisation approach to steelmaking, addressing both the production of new steel and the recycling of scrap.
The authors add that global steel demand is currently three times higher than global ferrous scrap supply. There is a need to increase the supply of low- and zero-carbon iron production, improving the quality of scrap through better sorting, and decarbonising electricity supplies.
Voluntary and mandatory embodied carbon limits are starting to be used on some construction projects across different regions, countries and local areas, the report highlights. These limits are most easily met by increasing the proportion of secondary rather than primary steel, but the paper claims that this is unlikely to result in any significant reduction of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Designers should demand steel from producers aligned with the dual decarbonisation approach. They hould further reduce GHG emissions by minimising the total tonnage of steel products specified, rather than just substituting for products with higher recycled content.
British Steel’s commercial director Ben Cunliffe said: “The UK market demand for EAF structural sections has increased dramatically over the past two years, with more and more client project specifications mandating reduced limits on embodied carbon within new building project specifications, which is forcing contractors to import structural sections from overseas.”
He adds that offshoring supply of sections is not the answer to reducing global GHG emissions.
Carrie Bone UK
