PARTNER UPDATE. Swedish steel giant SSAB has set out to be the world’s first company to offer fossil-free steel to the market – and it has already made its first delivery.
Now the company has made another bold commitment – to virtually eliminate carbon dioxide emissions around 2030, 15 years earlier than previously planned. If successful, this would cut Sweden’s total carbon emissions by about ten percent, and Finland’s by seven.
Martin Pei, Executive Vice President and CTO of SSAB, Viktoria Karsberg, Head of Corporate Identity and Group Communication, and Jesper Kansbod, Head of Government relations.
The European Union’s price on carbon emissions rose to record levels earlier this year. If it hadn't been for the war, experts suggest the price could soon have hit 100 euros a tonne.
You might suspect that this would greatly upset Sweden's single largest emitter SSAB, responsible for about ten percent of the country’s domestic carbon emissions. But no, not at all. Quite the contrary.
”SSAB believes it must cost more to emit”, says Viktoria Karsberg, Head of Corporate Identity and Group Communication at SSAB. ”The world needs strong carbon pricing instruments that make the case for transition. We need policy frameworks that create a global level playfield and support companies that are developing breakthrough technologies and show the way.”
But before we dig deeper into that, let’s rewind the tape to 2016, when the European price on carbon was still quite low. This was when SSAB teamed up with energy company Vattenfall and mining company LKAB – both of them state-owned – to create HYBRIT (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology) as a way to greatly reduce carbon emissions. The HYBRIT technology involves replacing the blast furnace process, which uses carbon and coke to remove the oxygen from iron ore, with a direct reduction process that uses fossil-free hydrogen produced from water, and electricity from fossil-free energy sources. Instead of carbon dioxide, water vapour is formed. This makes it possible to produce fossil-free sponge iron, a central step for fossil-free iron and steel production.
https://youtu.be/zk5-8DM0OvA
In August last year, SSAB used sponge iron from the HYBRIT project to produce the world’s first fossil-free steel in its factory in Oxelösund, 1,5 hours southwest of Stockholm. The steel was then delivered to the customer Volvo Group, which in turn used it to construct the world’s first dumper made with fossil-free steel. And that was just the first step. In 2026 SSAB is hoping to produce and sell fossil-free steel on a large scale. Customers like Volvo Cars, Daimler, Polestar and Faurecia are already lining up. ”There is a big demand for this kind of product on the market. Our customers want to cut their emissions too. Reducing value-chain emissions, by for example using fossil-free steel, is a big part of that”, says Viktoria Karsberg.
The first delivery of fossil-free steel in SSABs steel plant in Oxelösund, Sweden, 18th of August, 2021.
The soaring customer demand – combined with a steadily increasing price on carbon – was what recently made the board of SSAB set another bold target: Eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by around 2030 – fifteen years earlier than previously planned. To achieve this goal SSAB will have to transform all its Nordic production sites during the next ten years. This would reduce carbon emissions by 8 million tons per year. The climate impact of such an investment is dizzying. We are talking about a ten percent reduction of Sweden’s total domestic carbon emissions, and seven percent of Finland’s.
For this to happen, the necessary infrastructure, in particular access to fossil-free electricity, must be in place in time.
”We have enough electricity in Sweden today. It is the power lines we are currently more worried about”, says Viktoria Karsberg.
Like so many other frontrunners in the green transition, SSAB stresses the need to cooperate with both society and companies from other sectors to succeed in making the impossible possible. Like in the HYBRIT project.
”We saw that this platform offered a possibility to network and exchange knowledge with a lot of important actors which we might otherwise have found it hard to get in touch with. The challenges we are facing are so complex that we need to solve them together. The partnership is also a way for us to reach out to a broader audience”, says Viktoria Karsberg.
During the UN climate conference COP26, she took to the stage during one of We Don’t Have Time’s daily live broadcasts, and explained SSABs decarbonization journey to a global audience of 1,2 million. 
Viktoria Karsberg giving a keynote speech during one of We Don't Have Time's daily live broadcasts at COP26.
At the conference, SSAB also accepted an invitation to be a Founding Member of the First Movers Coalition, FMC, a joint initiative by the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry and the World Economic Forum. The coalition aims to be a platform for companies to make purchasing commitments that create new market demand for low-carbon technologies.
”There are a number of alternatives being born at the moment, both in Europe and the rest of the world. Hopefully, we can inspire others by showing that this is actually possible”, says Viktoria Karsberg.
MARKUS LUTTEMAN
Editor, We Don't Have Time
ABOUT
SSAB is a leading producer in the global market of Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) and Quenched & Tempered Steels (Q&T), strip, plate, and tube products, as well as construction solutions. SSAB’s production plants in Sweden, Finland, and the US have an annual steel production capacity of approximately 8.8 million tonnes. The company also has the capacity to process and finish various steel products in China, Brazil and many other countries. In Sweden and Finland, production is integrated into a blast furnace process. In the US, electric arc furnaces are used for a scrap-based production process.
SSAB’s plan is to offer fossil-free steel to the market in 2026 and virtually eliminate all its carbon dioxide emissions at around 2030.
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Always happy to read about organizations leading the way!
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SSAB is really leading the way in the steel industry, I hope they will succeed with their goals!
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Of course, they will. They are betting for the right choice.
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We can definitely do without fossils
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This showcase that there is a ray of hope.
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SSAB is a good example to read about and learn from.
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This is truly awesome and gives real hope for the future!
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This journey is fascinating to follow - I really hope that all goes well and that we will see truly full lifecycle fossil free steel within the decade!
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Kudos SSAB.It seems that you're not just smart at having well curated decarbonization business models,but also have a sheer commitment to achieve way beyond speculated/set deadlines and have the interest of providing solutions to the climate crisis at heart.