This article is a contribution to the NNWI Conference 2026: Powering Industrial Decarbonisation.
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The global steel industry produces around 2 billion tonnes of steel annually. For this to happen, approximately 2 times this volume need to be mined, collected and transported over long distances to the places of steel production. The final product is equally transported to multiple locations for further transformation into products that are useful in almost every aspect of modern society.
The industry is a large and integrated network of miners, logistic networks, and users that collectively requires vast amounts of energy to operate. On site requirement (Scope 1 & 2) to produce one tonne of steel requires an average of 20 GJ through the traditional integrated route, and around 6 GJ through the secondary steel production route using recovered steel as input. Available input materials suggest that at least half of future steel production will need to take place via the integrated route in the decades ahead.
The path towards a future decarbonised steel industry is equally complex. The precise path depends on the existing technology being used, availability of raw materials and the robustness of the energy supply network. Deep decarbonisation of the industry will in all cases require access to non-fossil energy sources for its normal operations. Additionally, significant amounts of Hydrogen will be needed as a reductant in the steelmaking process which will add to the energy requirement of steel production. Access to decarbonised energy, rather than technology is seen as a key obstacle to continued decarbonisation in the steel industry.
Industrial requirements for energy prefer stable and consistently available supply. In this context, the new demand growth from data centres will compete for stable energy sources. While nuclear energy supply will grow in decades ahead, non-fossil energy supply will remain insufficient to cover energy demand for decades. Locally, matching supply and demand of energy suggests that SMRs as a potential solution will best meet requirements as part of an energy grid.
