Miners grapple with green steel as they rush to decarbonise

Chief executive Mark Hutchinson said FFI’s technology was a “breakthrough”, showing significant progress. “We know the world is going to want iron ore and steel for a long time, but the level of emissions coming from that process is unsustainable,” he said.

‘I can see that steel will become the material of the future. I would argue that there is a more credible path forward for steel decarbonisation than cement for example.’

Rio Tinto boss Jakob Stausholm

BHP and Fortescue’s projects may not get beyond the pilot phase, but if they do the prize is huge. Iron ore is Australia’s most lucrative commodity and one of the country’s single biggest exports, accounting for 35 per cent of the world’s trade.

“If we could capture between five and 10 per cent of the world’s steel business. That’s huge in terms of high-paying manufacturing jobs. The potential here is not just the economic benefit … but the jobs as well,” Grattan Institute director Tony Wood said.

Establishing a local industry to produce 50 megatonnes of green steel a year in Australia by 2050 will cost $30 billion in technology investments, according to a report released last month by the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, a body backed by Climateworks Centre and Climate-KIC Australia.

Creating that much steel using green hydrogen will need nearly double the country’s current total electricity output, the Pathways to Industrial Decarbonisation report said.

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Rio Tinto boss Jakob Stausholm said it would take decades to successfully establish green iron and steel. “The economics of it is very challenging,” he said.

“It’s going to take decades but as soon as you really feel you can see the pathway forward then it’s just a matter of getting it done. I can see that steel will become the material of the future. I would argue that there is a more credible path forward for steel decarbonisation than cement, for example.”

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