German luxury vehicle manufacturer BMW Group has signed a final agreement for the delivery of CO2-reduced steel from Swedish green steel producer H2 Green Steel.
The deal was first flagged last October and will see H2 Green Steel produce steel using hydrogen and green power from renewable energy sources from 2025 onwards – a process which would reduce steel production CO2 emissions by around 95%, and thus save BMW around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
It amounts to about 40% of the steel required by BMW’s European manufacturing plants.
The contract also includes recycling and end-of-life management measures, such as recycling scrap, and includes an agreement to have 40% of the pre-consumer steel scrap of the volumes returned to H2 Green Steel’s electric arc furnaces for recycling.
H2 Green Steel defines “green steel” as steel produced from a combination of a significant amount of green virgin iron and scrap in a production process which uses electricity generated from renewable energy sources. Similarly, the total CO2 emissions in the production process must be more than 90% below that of traditional steelmaking in a blast furnace process.
“We are on a mission to decarbonize the steel industry,” said Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel.
“Working with progressive companies like BMW Group, pushes us to be better both in our own operations and our value chain. It also pushes us to be an even better partner to our customers and raises the bar for industry peers on the decarbonization journey.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.