Green steel could soon be a statutory requirement, says Steel Minister

At a time when there is an increasing emphasis on lowering emissions and moving away from making steel in less polluting ways, the government has said that it is looking at a framework to ensure that steel companies produce a certain percentage of their production in a green way.

Speaking at the India Steel 2023 conference organised by industry body FICCI, Minister of Steel and Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the government is looking at ways to promote the usage of green steel especially in government projects.

"In the near future, the government of the day may contemplate looking at putting in place processes for steel producers to dedicate a percentage of their production to make Green Steel  ensuring greater usage of the same in government projects," said Scindia while addressing the conference virtually.

He also highlighted the fact that technologies being developed such as hydrogen-based steel making and Hisarnar technology by Tata Steel Europe coupled with CCUS (Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage) holds huge promise.

"The commercialisation of these technologies might take some time. During the interim period, continuous improvement shall be made in the existing technologies to yield efficiency and reduce carbon footprint," he said.

The minister further said that ministry has signed 57 memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with 27 companies for specialty steel under the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which is expected to generate investment of about Rs 30,000 crore and create additional capacity of about 25 million tons of specialty steel in the next five years.

It will have a multiplier effect and create 60,000 plus jobs for the Amrit Pidi and contribute towards achieving the goal of becoming the third largest economy by 2030-31, he added.

He also said that the ministry is in the process of aligning policies with the Gati Shakti Master Plan to boost the demand of steel in various sectors.

"The steel ministry is in the process of aligning up policies with the Gati Shakti Master Plan which will complement the Rs 100 lakh crore investment plan for infrastructure development over the next five years; this will boost the demand of steel in various sectors thereby enhancing steel usage," said the minister.