Nippon Steel, Number Three Steelmaker Globally, Officially Commits to Carbon Neutrality
This week, President Eiji Hashimoto of Japan’s Nippon Steel released a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. This announcement comes shortly after similar 2050 carbon neutrality pledges were made by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, as well as the world’s largest steel company, ArcelorMittal.
Roger Smith, Mighty Earth’s Japan Project Manager, had this to say in reaction:
“As the largest steel company in Japan and third in the world, Nippon Steel is now publicly committing to being a global player in the mission to defeat climate change. We welcome Nippon’s pledge as a crucial step in building momentum for the entire steel industry, as well as its suppliers and customers like Toyota and other carmakers, to tackle its outsized impact on the Earth’s climate.
Nippon needs to demonstrate its seriousness by not only reforming its practices, but also working from within to change Keidanran’s (Japan Business Federation) positions on climate policy. For all too long Keidanren has worked to delay action at the national level to phase-out coal and scale-up domestic renewable energy.
“We are glad to see Nippon taking hydrogen research, development, and deployment seriously — but are cautious of over–reliance on carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies to meet its emissions target. We need to displace dirty coal and forest biomass–burning technology altogether for industry, paired with clean electrification, material efficiency, and industry right–sizing. In their plans, we are particularly interested to see how they intend to achieve carbon neutrality with their new joint venture AM-NS India.
“Nippon also seems to recognize the urgency of this challenge indicating they will begin shifting from some aging facilities, primarily coal–burning blast furnaces, to electric furnaces and eventually scaling hydrogen-based production- both of which can be powered by renewable energy. . But these shifts must also include a moratorium on building any new coal or biomass-burning facilities anywhere and a plan to phase out existing coal burning facilities; this will ensure carbon neutral production becomes a reality. Forest biomass has often overlooked significant near-term carbon impacts as carbon sequestered in forests is converted into fuel, burned, and returned to the atmosphere.
“We still await more specific, time-bound, and actionable steps from Nippon. This should light a fire and spur ambitious commitments and plans from its peer companies such as Baowu Group, HBIS, Nucor, Shagang, POSCO, Tata, and others. But industry and governments alike must make robust investments and science-based commitments for the 1.5°C warming scenario to be possible. Now that industry has signaled its willingness to act, the Japanese government should provide public support in the form of green recovery to support steelmakers and other heavy industry as they invest in technologies that locks out carbon emissions in order to achieve this challenging goal and fast.”
For more about Mighty Earth’s global steel campaign, and to read their latest mini report on ArcelorMittal, visit www.mightyearth.org/steel.
