How Steel Could Become Green, and What It Would Take

The steel industry is one of the most vital to economies around the world but also one of the dirtiest. Demand for the alloy is increasing as populations grow and people travel more, build taller skyscrapers and put up more wind turbines. How to clean up a sector that has relied largely on the same production techniques for more than a century is becoming an urgent topic globally and a key one for the COP26 climate summit.

There’s no real difference in the product compared with conventional steel. Rather, it’s the way it’s manufactured that defines how green, or clean, steel is. Traditionally, steel is made by heating iron ore with coking coal in a blast furnace at high temperatures, but there are several other methods at various stages of development and no defining standard or criteria for companies to use the moniker.