Strategy

For more than 10 years, we have been working on the consistent reduction of emissions by means of energy efficiency programs. Successes have been achieved in many projects, resulting in a reduction of approx. 30,000 t CO2 per year. An energy management system according to DIN EN ISO 50001 and an environmental management system according to DIN EN ISO 14001 have been implemented.


Our emissions for the entire plant are being confirmed annually by means of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This is based on DIN EN ISO 14064 and provides us with valuable information on how to further reduce our CO2 emissions.


But that's not enough for us: Our vision - to eliminate today's process-related emissions with green hydrogen. Together with the use of 100% green electricity, we are very close to the goal of CO2 neutrality.

The Green Steel concept in detail

Only when one gear meshes with the other can great things be moved. This is also the case with our Green Steel. There are many adjustments to be made - but the goal is set. In the following, we present how we intend to achieve this in concrete terms.

Basic requirement electric steel process

  • The basic requirement for the production of our green steel is the electric steel process.
  • We use the electric arc furnace for the production of our carbon steels. This is currently the best available process from a sustainability point of view.

100% green power & efficiency improvement

  • For green crude steel production we use only electricity from renewable sources.
  • As soon as hydrogen is available in sufficient quantities, we will offer CO2-neutral steels through the additional use of hydrogen/electricity instead of natural gas for our hot stamping and heat treatment stages.

Minimize CO2 emissions

  • We reduce CO2 emissions from our steel production from 429 kg/t crude steel (global average crude steel 1680 kg/t) to 107 kg/t through the use of green electricity.
  • We offer steel products that reduce CO2 emissions in further processing or use. Our products are ideal, for example, for manufacturers of sustainable technologies in the areas of hydrogen generation, transport or even storage, mobility and mechanical engineering.

 

Keeping supply chains under control

  • We require our suppliers to provide evidence of material origin, CO2 emissions and compliance with ethical standards.
  • We give preference to logistics companies that use ecologically optimized networked modes of transport and also provide evidence of the ecological benefits.

Efficient use of resources through recycling

  • We use steel scrap as a raw material base, thus transforming it from waste to recyclable material.
  • By recovering alloying elements from unmixed steel scrap, finite primary metallic raw materials are conserved and the CO2 emissions generated during extraction are avoided.

Prove climate protection

  • The customer receives proof of the climate protection contribution in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
  • We have the CO2 reduction associated with Green Steel confirmed by an independent institute.
  • We measure and evaluate emissions along our value chain and for all business areas.

* Global Mix / Total production 2018 / Basis energy mix Germany