Steelmakers Forgoing Coal, Building Electric Arc Furnaces

Steelmakers Forgoing Coal, Building Electric Arc Furnaces

JULY 24, 2024

The global steel industry is turning away from polluting coal-fired blast furnaces and toward cleaner electric arc furnaces, which now account for roughly half of all planned steelmaking capacity, according to a new report.

“The progress is promising for a green steel transition,” said Caitlin Swalec, of Global Energy Monitor, which undertook the analysis. “Never before has this much lower-emissions steelmaking been in the pipeline.”

Recently announced steelmaking projects are overwhelmingly electric arc furnaces, which now amount to 49 percent of all planned capacity. By the end of this decade, electric arc furnaces will account for more than a third of steelmaking.

However, analysis says, the continued buildout of coal-based furnaces is a worrying trend. Even as the electric arc furnaces add up to a greater share of steelmaking, new coal furnaces are still driving emissions upward. Said Swalec,”What the industry needs now is to make these clean development plans a reality, while backing away from coal-based developments.”