The leading Japanese steel company Nippon Steel is going to produce recycled steel using hydrogen metallurgy technologies to expand production of so called “green” steel.
The company’s president Eiji Hashimoto said Nippon Steel will not only buy raw materials as before, but will also get involved in their preparation so that they can participate more actively in the decarbonization process.
In his words, Nippon Steel will not start its own projects, but is ready to join other companies’ projects to produce recycled steel using “green” hydrogen. In the meantime, the company is going to continue investing in coking coal production facilities.
There is no way to do without this raw material in the foreseeable future, and investors are reluctant to finance coal projects which do not fit into their climate policy.
Currently, Nippon Steel covers about 20% of its needs in iron ore and coking coal by means of supplies from the enterprises the Japanese company is a minority shareholder in.