Evolving policies and regulation on environmental protection at national, European and global level have significant potential impacts on the steel industry and its future. These include initiatives in areas such as pollution prevention, air-quality standards, efficient resource utilisation, circular economy, industrial symbiosis, and new product and waste legislation, among others. As the solutions for many of these challenges are technological, ESTEP and its members are very active in this field.
The recyclability of steel is an important aspect of sustainability. The recycling process is an essential and integral part of steel production, which is why over 475 million tonnes of steel scrap is recovered globally on an annual basis for recycling into new steel products. This makes steel the most recycled material in the world, at more than the combined reported totals for other recyclable materials, including paper, plastic, glass, copper, lead, and aluminium.
ESTEP takes Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) as a key approach to issues of sustainability. This goes well beyond simply meeting the demands of environmental regulations. LCT considers all aspects of the production, use and disposal of steel, including issues such as resources preservation, the eco-design of processes, working with other industries in 'industrial ecologies', and the social aspects and impacts of the industry.
Technological innovation in blast-furnace operation has meant that energy consumption and CO2 emissions from steelmaking have fallen by 50 % and 60 % respectively over the past 40 years. However, the best European steel plants are now operating at the limits of what is technically possible; they are up against the laws of physics. With conventional routes to produce hot metal from iron ore, the margin for further improvements in smelting technologies is estimated at 10 % to 15 % (Low Carbon steel roadmap), but beyond this, energy and emissions savings must be sought elsewhere. This is the purpose of the Big Scale Initiative.
Further information about the work of WG planet can be found in the ESTEP highlights of 2016.