Green lead markets require standardisation
Green lead markets should have the same standardisation in every European country, according to Luciana Filizzola, GMH Gruppe’s director sustainability and communications.
“If every country in Europe has the same standardisation, it would be wonderful to promote the green lead market,” she said at the Kallanish Europe Steel Markets 2024 conference in Milan last week. GMH recommends prioritising low-CO2 products in tenders, both directly and indirectly, and a uniform classification system for green steel products, such as Germany’s Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS) labelling system.
Vulcan Green Steel vice president Arnaud Guerendel added: “There is no international standard and that is a pity!”
Guerendel noted international standardisation is currently facing a problem. He gave the example of one organisation, which is lobbying for and working under the definition of below 0.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of steel production for Scope 3 emissions. But there is another range that has the general consensus of being considered “green” steel, which is at under 0.6t of CO2 emissions per tonne.
He opined one cannot make all grades of steel under the same carbon intensity. For example, producers can make a basic grade if they use scrap and green electricity, as it will have a very low product carbon footprint (PCF). However, very sophisticated grades cannot be made from scrap, and it will a completely different footprint.
Hydrogen-based direct reduced iron will therefore need to be used to achieve net-zero production of these highly sophisticated grades.
“There’s no international standard, between the EU, USA, and rest of the world,” Guerendel said. This is especially the case since China manufactures over 55% of global steel and India is soon expected to cross 200 million tonnes/year. He emphasised the need to set dialogue with those regions and standardise.
Suhita Poddar India
Germany introduces new green steel certification standard
The LESS certification was introduced on Monday April 22 at an industry event in the Hannover Messe and announced more widely in a WV Stahl press release.
It was said to be the first standard for the steel industry that allows for tracking and comparing emissions from two key steelmaking routes: the conventional blast furnace route in the transition to low-emitting hydrogen-based production processes, and the electric-arc furnace route. The system therefore enables comparisons of the decarbonization efforts of both steelmaking methods.
LESS was developed by WV Stahl and its member companies and is supported by the BMWK.
The core part of the LESS standard is the labelling system, which allows for classification of low-CO2 steel by carbon intensity, using a graduated scale.
According to the LESS standard, low-emission steel can be grouped into five categories – A,B,C,D,E – depending on carbon and scrap content.
Steelmaking companies that would like to get LESS certificates would have to report their scrap content and Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) in the finished steel product, in accordance with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
This EPD would be provided by independent certification bodies TÜV Nord and DNV.
“The definition of green steel has long been the subject of intense debate worldwide,” WV Stahl president Bernhard Osburg said. “I am delighted that, by joining forces, we have succeeded in developing a widely agreed solution based on international standards which we are now putting into practise. This will provide steel clients with all the information they need to achieve their CO2 reduction targets with the help of low-emissions steel.”
He also emphasized that the LESS standard will help steel-using companies to obtain initial funding for transformation projects.
The introduction of LESS was supported by stainless steel producer Swiss Steel Group.
“LESS creates transparency through a uniform labelling system and a step-by-step classification of low-CO2 steel, and enables steel users to achieve their climate targets with the help of sustainably produced steel,” Swiss Steel Group said on April 24.
The LESS standard was created for international cooperation, so industry sources hoped that it would help to achieve a more unified approach to pricing low-carbon steel and that this would help to promote its uptake across supply chains.
Industry sources estimated that the volume of green steel traded in Europe in 2023 was no higher than 50,000 tonnes, with very few suppliers able to offer “physically produced green steel, with emissions proven by Environmental Product Declarations [EDPs],” according to one distributor.
Fastmarkets’ most recent weekly assessment of the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe, was €150-250 ($160-267) per tonne on April 18, unchanged since mid-December.