SteelZero Summit

In the leading steelmaking region in the world, we brought together attendees to discuss how the AsiaPacific can drive the global steel industry’s net zero transition.

Across four sessions we convened leaders from the world of business, politics and finance to delve deep into the specific aspects of the steel industry’s net zero transition that we need to deliver.

Several key themes emerged throughout the morning, focused on supply chain collaboration, the technical and market trends, technological innovations, and the investments that are needed to drive this vital change.

Renewables are central to cutting the carbon emissions from the steel production process. We heard from many speakers on the regional renewable energy capacity needed to support steel decarbonisation pathways. Pascal Langeais of Ørsted talked about the work it’s doing on offshore wind to build partnerships with local steelmakers in South Korea,

Speakers:

• His Excellency Key Young Kim, Vice Governor, of Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea, Asia-Pacific Co-Chair of the Under2 Coalition of State and Regional Governments

• Liu Bin, Director and General Manager of Shenzhen CIMC TCREA Supply Chain Company Limited

• Assyl Ikhsan, Transition Finance, Standard Chartered Bank

• Pascal Langeais, Head of APAC Procurement & Supply Chain, Ørsted

• Peta Olesen, Director – Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Government

• Siddhartha Shrivastava, Head of New Energies & Resources Asia, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group

• Ian Hiscock, Head of Consulting, China and SE Asia, CRU Group

• Modini Yantrapati, Senior Energy Storage Consultant, APAC, DNV

• Annie Heaton, CEO, ResponsibleSteel

• Fredrik Boman, Senior Director, Body and Chassis R&D, APAC, Volvo Cars

• Brian Voldsgaard, Head of Ocean Asset Partnerships, Asset

• Pascal Langeais, Head of APAC Procurement & Supply Chain, Ørsted

• Cearo Wang, Head of EHS and Net Zero, China and North East Asia, SKF

• Maximilian Schnippering, Head of Global Sustainability, Siemens Gamesa

• Joelle Chen, Head of Sustainability, Asia, Lendlease while Peta Olesen of the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water spoke of green hydrogen certification and verification, and Australia’s potential to use its vast reserves of iron ore for green steel supply chains.

Speakers also discussed the need for greater common standards and definitions to enable the transition and alignment of supply chains toward responsibly produced steel. Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel, noted the “common currency” this would provide for the transition.

When it came to finance, the focus was on the importance of supporting innovation in new technologies. Assyl Ikhsan from Standard Chartered, spoke of the role banks can play in supplying the capital for scaling up low carbon technologies.

And as our members showcased their progress on driving demand for responsibly produced steel, a common theme of the summit arose once more regarding the critical role policymakers and governments must play. Maximilian Schnippering of Siemens Gamesa said introducing CO2 pricing is “the key measure we need to do”, while topics including de-risking the green steel market, setting targets and incentives for steelmakers, and sharing the costs of the transition were also shared.