Steel production generates 7% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.MENA region set to boost investment in green steel production.As the global industrial sector seeks to shrink its carbon footprint, a number of MENA countries are investing in green steel production to capture market share and help meet emissions targets.
According to a September 2022 report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the MENA region is uniquely poised to lead global steel decarbonisation due to its use of lower-emissions smelting processes and planned developments in green hydrogen production – an attractive energy source for green steel.Steel is composed of 98% iron, which is traditionally smelted in furnaces heated with coal at 1400°C to remove impurities.
Despite accounting for 3% of the world’s crude steel in 2021, the region generated approximately 46% of global DRI production. Thanks to a steady supply of natural gas and DR-grade iron pellets, as well as the presence of some of the world’s largest ore-pelletising facilities, MENA is primed to further increase the manufacture of low-emissions steel.
Emirates Steel Arkan, in particular, has begun incorporating green hydrogen into its manufacturing processes. The company has already achieved a lower carbon footprint than competitors in China and India due to the use of natural gas to power electric arc furnaces, which boast a carbon intensity 75% lower than traditional coal-powered blast furnaces.
In October of last year Brazil’s Vale, a metal and mining company, signed three memoranda of understanding with entities in the GCC for feasibility studies to establish industrial complexes capable of producing green steel. The complexes will be located in Ras Al Khair Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Duqm Special Economic Zone in Oman.