Cleaning up steel is vital for India’s future
Building more coal-based blast furnaces make it more difficult for India to export its steel in the future, particularly to Europe, said Easwaran Narassimhan of the New Delhi-based think tank Sustainable Futures Collaborative.
The European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a tax on carbon emissions that Europe will begin charging for all products imported to the bloc from next year, would likely turn off any buyers from steel made with coal-based blast furnaces.
“China’s steel production is less emissions-intensive, which means it’s going to face a lesser impact from European carbon taxes,” said Narassimhan. “Any amount of short-term pain today is going to be worth in the long run.”
India too has ambitious climate goals and wants to produce 500 gigawatts of clean power—enough to power nearly 300 million Indian homes—by the end of this decade. The South Asian nation recently crossed the milestone of installing 100 gigawatts of solar power, most of which was installed in the last 10 years.
India also aims to go net zero—that is to stop adding planet-warming gas to the atmosphere, either by preventing the emissions in the first place or removing an equivalent amount through natural or technological means—by 2070.
Indian steelmakers said they recognize the need to emit less but are apprehensive about how much it’ll cost them. “If you’re not financially viable, you cannot exist as a business,” said Prabodh Acharya, chief sustainability officer at JSW Group, one of India’s biggest steel companies.
“Steel is essential for the growth of society and economy. We need to find the right balance between growth, economy and decarbonization,” he said.