Low-Carbon Development for the Iron and Steel Industry in China and the World: Status Quo, Future Vision, and Key Actions

Abstract

The low-carbon development of China’s iron and steel industry (ISI) is important but challenging work for the attainment of China’s carbon neutrality by 2060. However, most previous studies related to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI are fragmented from different views such as production-side mitigation, demand-side mitigation, or mitigation technologies. Additionally, there is still a lack of a comprehensive overview of the long-term pathway to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI. To respond to this gap and to contribute to better guide policymaking in China, this paper conducted a timely and comprehensive review following the technology roadmap framework covering the status quo, future vision, and key actions of the low-carbon development of the world and China’s ISI. First, this paper provides an overview of the technology roadmap of low-carbon development around the main steel production countries in the world. Second, the potential for key decarbonization actions available for China’s ISI are evaluated in detail. Third, policy and research recommendations are put forward for the future low-carbon development of China’s ISI. Through this comprehensive review, four key actions can be applied to the low-carbon development of China’s ISI: improving energy efficiency, shifting to Scrap/EAF route, promoting material efficiency strategy, and deploying radical innovation technologies.

China Country Climate and Development Report

“…A range of technologies is available to reduce emissions but requires price incentives to support uptake. Technologies available range from well-established to experimental and can dramatically reduce emissions (Lin et al 2021). Background analysis of firm-level data in China's major industries, undertaken for this report, demonstrates the correlation between research investment, technological innovation, and industrial efficiency across sectors.…”

“…China continues to rely on blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) technology for 90 percent of its production, compared to 72 percent for the global average (and 30 percent in the US, 76 percent in Japan, and 44 percent in India). Electric arc furnace (EAF) alternatives have emissions of around one quarter per unit of production (Lin et al 2021). This may also produce co-benefits in terms of dioxins pollution reduction.…”

Predictive Maintenance for Remanufacturing Based on Hybrid-Driven Remaining Useful Life Prediction

“…In recent years, carbon neutrality has been proposed as a common interest of the world. As one of the biggest carbon emitters, the manufacturing industry should eagerly transfer the current operating mode to more sustainable processes [2,3]. Although production decisions and carbon regulations have been studied, more actions are needed to implement sustainable manufacturing [4].…”

Effect of Regulation on the Increasing Price of Metals and Minerals to Meet the Challenges in Clean Energy Transitions: A Case Study of China

“…The low-carbon development of China's iron is important but challenging for the attainment of China's carbon neutrality by 2060, which requires critical metals and minerals [5]. In addition to critical metals and minerals, other metals are also in high demand in China [6].…”