Blast furnaces won’t be leaving the building just yet...

Matthew Moggridge Editor

matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

I would rather not be viewed as somebody who supports Shell – the multinational conglomerate still buying Russian oil – but when I read recently that Wael Sawan, the oil giant’s head honcho, believes that cutting oil and gas production would be ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ – bearing in mind that alternative energy sources are not being developed fast enough – I did stop and wonder. Was he being truthful or simply mindful of protecting his and his shareholders’ profits as the climate lobby cranks up the pressure? I guess the answer depends on your perspective. On both sides of the argument, viewpoints are entrenched in long-held beliefs about the climate emergency, so we’ll never get to the heart of the matter unless something actually happens (or doesn’t happen) and those on one side of the argument either apologise or smugly announce ‘I told you so’. Sawan says ‘if we’re going to have a transition it needs to be a just transition.’ Who am I to disagree with that? It’s all very well Western countries dictating that the whole world should transition yesterday, but that’s because the West has had its industrial revolution, thank you very much. Other nations (notably India and China) are still in the midst of theirs.

Where steel manufacturing is concerned, development by Global Energy Monitor of a Global Blast Furnace Tracker is a good idea and a helpful resource, but it shouldn’t be used to name and shame developing nations still actively building blast furnaces in order to develop their economies. While it is clear that – environmentally – the BF is the steel industry’s climate ‘villain’, they’re not going anywhere, and some say they will never leave the building because there are specific types of steel that can only be produced using traditional processes.

Personally, I am hopeful that some of the many technologies under development will mitigate the effect blast furnaces are having on the planet, even if CCUS – something I have always regarded as a ‘go to’ solution for greener BF steelmaking – will not play a major role in the decarbonization of steelmaking going forward, or so says the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Having recently chaired a debate on the use of CCUS in the global steel industry, I find it hard to believe that it can be written off so decisively when so many companies are actively engaged in its development.

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