Jyotiraditya Scindia discusses ways to incentivise green steel production with various stakeholders

Jyotiraditya Scindia. File

Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia held a meeting with five task forces and discussed a range of issues, including incentivising green steel production and financing options for decarbonising the industry.

“Key stakeholders, industry experts and government officials attended the meeting to discuss ways to achieve sustainability and decarbonisation in steel production on Thursday,” the Ministry of Steel said in a statement on September 29.

The meeting was also attended by Steel Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha, chairpersons of the five task forces and other senior officials.

“Held a fruitful discussion with 5 of our 13 task forces. Defined a roadmap to tackle inevitable challenges through a multi-pronged approach, including renewable energy uptake, skill development, incentives, and potential pathways for decarbonisation,” the Minister said.

“The task force on Finance, led by Sunil Mehta, the Chief Executive of Indian Banks’ Association, provided valuable insights into financing options for decarbonising the Indian steel industry,” the Ministry said.

The Renewable Energy Transition Task Force, under Aniruddha Kumar, proposed policy drivers to incentivise the adoption of renewable power and measures to attract industries to set up captive renewable power facilities.

Skill Development Task Force focussed on identifying the skilling, upskilling and re-skilling of manpower for the steel industry for ensuring the just transition.

The task force on energy efficiency led by Ashok Kumar Tripathy, an Independent Director of SAIL, gave recommendations for boosting energy efficiency solutions for integrated steel plants and secondary steel industries.

The process transition task force deliberated on ways to promote the use of natural gas and syngas in direct reduced iron plants, aiming to reduce carbon emissions from these facilities by moving away from coal-based feedstock.

The Ministry of Steel had earlier constituted 13 task forces with the engagement of the industry, academia, think tanks, various Ministries and other stakeholders to discuss, deliberate and recommend ways to decarbonise the steel sector and promote green steel production.