We need low-emission steel manufacturing now

“If you cannot set a credible course for net zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business.”

This is the UN secretary-general talking to the fossil fuel industry about the climate crisis recently. We should ask the same question of Arcelor Mittal Dofasco.

A recent opinion piece in The Spec (Will Enbridge pipeline lock in CO2 emissions?) described ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2028. It rightly criticized the plan to build a new gas pipeline across Hamilton to bring gas to Dofasco’s steelworks where a gas fed Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) process would replace the blast furnace process.

While a 60 per cent reduction is highly commendable, in the face of the climate crisis it is not enough. “Show me your work!” said my old schoolteacher when a questionable conclusion was made.

A browse of ArcelorMittal’s decarbonization investment plans highlights its plan to start operation of a hydrogen fed Direct Reduced Iron operation in Gijón, Spain. A 2.3million-tonne green hydrogen DRI unit will be in production before the end of 2025. This is being done with a 1-billion-euro government investment to get the plant up and running.

In describing the Spanish project, ArcelorMittal note “this is a project that will require the support of many different partners to succeed; our plan hinges on the supply of affordable, mass-scale hydrogen, access to sustainable finance and a supportive legal framework that allows us to be competitive globally.”

ArcelorMittal will be producing zero emissions steel in Spain by 2025.

Why not in Hamilton? Instead of sourcing low emission hydrogen feedstock, ArcelorMittal Dofasco — with a $1.8-billion investment, with $900 million in federal and provincial government grants — has chosen to join with Enbridge, which will build a pipeline to bring fossil gas to fuel the DRI process.

Stakeholders — show me your work!

ArcelorMittal Dofasco: what would it take to overcome the obstacles to a hydrogen fed operation? Why not now?

The province: what would it take to supply the needed electricity for hydrogen production? How could you make the supply available?

■ The federal government: will your Clean Electricity Regulations ensure the needed electricity supply?

■ Enbridge: how does your pipeline investment compare to building a hydrogen plant? How does it contribute to a credible course for net zero?

We must ask all stakeholders: What is your goal? Is the plan to replace fossil gas with clean hydrogen later? If it is not the plan, AMD will still be the largest industrial emitter of CO2 in Canada apart from the oil and gas industry. If it is the plan, and it better be, why not now rather than some undefined time in the distant future?

We need low-emission steel manufacturing. The technology is known. We don’t need future technologies like carbon capture to make it work.

We just need all stakeholders to focus on the end goal and commit to the urgency of making it happen soon. Not by some unstated future time when our emissions have raised temperatures to an unlivable level.

“If not us, who? If not now, when?”