New Delhi: “The iron and steel industry is an emission-intensive sector. A new analysis shows it is possible to bring down carbon dioxide emissions from the iron and steel sector drastically by 2030, while more than doubling India’s output of steel,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, speaking at a day-long stakeholder workshop organized here on ‘Decarbonising India’s Iron and Steel Sector by 2030 and Beyond’.

The workshop discussions were based on CSE’s latest report on the subject -- Decarbonizing India: Iron and Steel Sector – which gives detailed insights into GHG emissions from the sector and its future emission scenarios. The speakers and participants included Ruchika Chaudhry Govil, additional secretary, Union ministry of steel; Richa Sharma, additional secretary, Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change; Parmjeet Singh, additional industrial advisor, Union ministry of steel; Andrew Purvis, director, World Steel Association; and some top industry representatives.

Said Nivit Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution, CSE: “The iron and steel sector is a hard-to-abate sector in terms of greenhouse gas emissions; at the same time, it is a critical contributor to the economic development of the country. Globally, the sector accounts for some 7 per cent of total GHG emissions; in India, the sector’s share is 5 per cent as per the latest Biennial Update Report submitted to UNFCCC in 2016.”

The workshop navigated the issues of fuel shift, low carbon technology, energy efficiency, increasing generation and usage of steel scrap and carbon capture utilisation and storage for the Indian iron and steel sector.

Another prominent pathway advocated by in report is increasing the use of steel scrap. India is making efforts to increase its domestic steel scrap generation through various sources like vehicles, construction, shipping etc, especially with the passage of the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy and the Vehicular Scrappage Policy.

As the sector plans to double its production by 2030 with 60-65 per cent production based on coal-intensive technology -- blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace -- steel players are actively considering the option of carbon capture utilisation and storage. At the workshop, the panellists elaborated on the national and international scenarios for the economic and technological viability of CCUS for the sector.

“The bottom line is that it is possible to bend the CO2 curve even for a sector like iron and steel. Countries like India can develop while drastically reducing their GHG emissions. The only question is if the rich world will accept the imperative of climate justice and provide the funds for the technology transformation necessary for a future-ready industry,” said Narain while concluding the workshop.