l POSCO and BHP sign MOU on carbon neutrality, promote carbon reductions in the overall mining and steel industry
l Cooperation in the manufacture of high-strength cokes and the utilization of biomass, improvements to the reporting system for estimating GHG emissions, development of CCUS technology, etc.
l Head of Steel Business Unit Hag-dong Kim says, “Cooperation between the two companies is expected to lay the foundation for carbon neutrality in the overall steel value chain.”
POSCO will join up with BHP, the world’s largest mining company, for carbon neutrality.
POSCO signed an MOU with BHP construct a cooperative system on carbon neutrality, starting with joint R&D into reducing carbon emissions in the overall mining and steel industry.
The MOU signing ceremony was held over videoconference with POSCO’s Head of Steel Business Unit Hag-dong Kim and BHP’s Chief Commercial Officer(CCO), Vandita Pant and related employees.
As the largest material supplier of POSCO, BHP has supplied more than 17 million tons of materials, including iron ore, steam coal for iron making, and nickel.
POSCO and BHP decided to promote joint R&D in ▲ manufacturing high-strength cokes and utilizing biomass, ▲ improving the reporting systems for estimating GHG emissions in the entire supply chain (Scope 3), and ▲ developing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies.
＊GHG emissions are classified as Scope 1 through 3 according to emission type, with Scope 1 referring to the direct emissions of business sites and Scope 2 referring to indirect emissions from electricity use at business sites. Scope 3 refers to carbon emissions other than Scope 1 and Scope 2 and includes emissions from the business sites’ forward and backward supply chain, such as raw material production, logistics, and discarding processes.
First, both companies agreed to jointly develop technology to reduce coal usage as part of the phased reduction to realize carbon neutrality in 2050. Going beyond the existing method of using coke as fuel, they will reduce coke use by combining it with hydrogen and jointly develop high-strength cokes suitable for this type of fuel. In addition, the two companies will research using eco-friendly biomass materials such as moss and seaweed as steel fuel.
They will cooperate on improving the reporting system for estimating the GHG emissions of the entire supply chain (Scope 3), from the production and transportation of raw materials to the processing of steel products. Based on this, they expect to be able to precisely estimate the current state of carbon emissions for the entire process of steel manufacturing and the possibility of reducing carbon emissions to derive strategies for carbon neutrality across the entire supply chain.
In addition, they will start developing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, which prevent carbon from being emitted by capturing, utilizing, and storing it.
The two companies plan to establish a “Low carbon project committee” to give shape to these cooperative areas and provide continuous monitoring.
”We expect we can lay an important foundation for carbon neutrality in the overall steel value chain by using POSCO’s iron-making technology and BHP’s mining expertise,” said POSCO’s Head of Steel Business Unit Hag-dong Kim.
“We will make best efforts to proactively contribute to the response to climate change through cooperation between mining and steel industries along with POSCO,” said BHP CCO Vandita Pant resolutely.
Meanwhile, POSCO declared the achievement of its ‘2050 carbon neutrality’ goal last year and, from October 6 to 8, held the Hydrogen Iron & Steel Making Forum 2021 (HyIS), the world’s first such forum for carbon neutrality, which is a common goal of steel companies all over the world. As such, POSCO will lead carbon neutrality based on constructing a global-level cooperation system with various stakeholders.
▲ POSCO’s Head of Steel Business Unit Hag-dong Kim and Vandita Pant, Chief Commercial Officer at BHP, signed an MOU to construct a cooperative system for carbon neutrality.