Steel Dialogue #3, 1. Oktober 2024

Electrical Steel Powering Sustainability

Sustainability and decarbonization are moving the world and are an essential building block in the current and future development and production of electrical steel. Under the title "Electric strip with a reduced carbon footprint," Dominik Füreder, Sustainability Manager in the voestalpine Steel Division, provided compact and sustainable information on the topics of green steel, isovac®, the non-grain-oriented electrical strip with a reduced carbon footprint, and the future path of voestalpine in the area of sustainability.

Market leader in premium electrical steel  

As a European premium producer of non-grain-oriented electrical steel, voestalpine supplies isovac®, the core component in highly efficient electrical machines. voestalpine strives for technological and quality leadership and is not only a supplier but also a global development partner with extensive material and production expertise. In addition to technological properties and quality, the focus is increasingly on sustainability. The carbon footprint has been sustainably reduced by implementing a variety of measures. The results are reflected in the sustainability rankings, and additional significant improvements are to be made.

voestalpine in sustainability rankings

The voestalpine Group is committed to the Science Based Targets Initiative listed in the FTSE4Good and Dow Jones sustainability indices and has an A ranking in the climate change category of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). The voestalpine Steel Division has a ResponsibleSteel certification at its production site in Linz and is one of the top 5% (GOLD ranking) of EcoVadis.

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

voestalpine offers an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for all product categories in the flat steel sector. The environmental impact of products is calculated according to uniform rules. voestalpine is a pioneer in electrical steel. Published EPDs do not exist for electric steel, and so a comparison is made with cold-rolled steel strip (2019 data based on the voestalpine EPDs). The figures [kg CO2e/kg steel]:

  •   Cold-rolled steel strip: Europe: 2,63; Global: 2,80
  •  voestalpine electrical strip: semi-processed: 2.34; fully processed: 2.52

voestalpine is already a benchmark for the electrical steel EPD today and still has a long way to go. Continued measures will further reduce the carbon footprint.

greentec steel Edition

Thanks to a CO2-optimized production route at the Linz site, voestalpine is already internationally at the forefront of CO2-reduced steel production. All voestalpine flat steel products are available in the greentec steel Edition, premium quality with a reduced carbon footprint. The reduced carbon footprint is achieved with measures in the steelmaking process, determined with an allocation model and documented in a declaration. This means that customers can verify that their emissions have been reduced.

Allocation model for customers

voestalpine offers premium quality with a reduced carbon footprint. This is documented with greenhouse gas declarations. The basis for this is the voestalpine greentec steel allocation model. The starting point for the calculation is optimized operation with reduced CO2 emissions when compared to conventional production processes (2019 reference year). The non-emissions are stored as saved CO2 credits in a "CO2 piggy bank." These CO2 credits can then be assigned to specific product quantities on customer orders (until the piggy bank is empty). This is documented with a greenhouse gas (GHG) declaration. An independent third party (LRQA) has validated this entire process and verified the data.

voestalpine environmental strategy

Steel production with net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 is the voestalpine target. A holistic approach with comprehensive investments in new production systems, technologies and processes from raw materials to steel production with new electric arc furnaces is our way forward. This will enable the implementation of Austria's largest industrial climate protection program. Here are the facts:

  • Since 2010, voestalpine has invested more than 2.3 billion euros in environmental measures alone. 
  • In 2019, the world's largest pilot plant for CO2-neutral hydrogen production was put into operation in the steel industry.
  • Direct emissions on the blast furnace route have already been reduced by 10% to date.
  • All voestalpine flat steel products are available in the greentec steel Edition.
  • The partial conversion of steel production to electric arc furnaces will take place in 2027 with the commissioning of the first electric-arc furnace. 
  • Research projects such as SUSTEEL for the carbon-free production of crude steel using hydrogen plasma and HYFOR for the carbon-neutral direct reduction of fine ore.