Nippon Steel achieves 43% reduction in carbon emissions

Nippon Steel Corporation has achieved significant success in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions in steel production towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The company has achieved a 43% reduction in carbon emissions in tests conducted at the East Nippon Works Kimitsu Plant in Japan. This result, confirmed in the November-December 2024 period, has enabled Nippon Steel to achieve its development goals ahead of schedule.

This success was achieved thanks to Nippon Steel’s innovative Super COURSE50 technology, which uses hydrogen instead of coal. Traditionally, iron ore is melted with coal in blast furnaces. However, this process releases a large amount of carbon into the environment while generating energy. Hydrogen-based processes can reduce these carbon emissions but are technically more challenging because they require maintaining the heat balance. Nippon Steel overcame these challenges by optimizing the heat balance in the furnace, managing to reduce carbon emissions to an unprecedented level.

The company has gradually reduced carbon emissions each year with the trials it started in May 2022. Nippon Steel achieved a 22% reduction in 2022 and a 33% reduction in 2023, setting a new standard in carbon reduction in steel production by reaching 43% in 2024. Now, it aims to achieve a carbon reduction of over 50% in steel production processes by applying this technology to large-scale furnaces.

There are approximately 800 blast furnaces worldwide, most of which are located in East Asia. Countries such as China, which is a leader in steel production, are making intensive efforts in carbon reduction. However, Nippon Steel's success puts the company in a leading position in carbon reduction technologies in the steel sector, surpassing the results achieved so far in Japan and the world.

The development is taking place within the framework of a project managed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) within the framework of Japan’s Green Innovation Fund. Launched in January 2022 and expanded in November 2023, the project involves Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel.