Greenko, able to supply the green power required for hydrogen production for 24 hours a day based on renewable energy and pumped-storage hydroelectricity

POSCO Holdings is promoting a green hydrogen production project with Greenko, India’s second largest renewable energy company.

POSCO Holdings and Greenko signed a ‘memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the green hydrogen/ammonia project’ at H2 MEET in KINTEX, Ilsan, on the 1st, attended by Ju-ik Cho, head of POSCO Holdings Hydrogen Business, and Gautam Reddy Kumbam, COO and Head of New Energy of Greenko.

The two companies plan to promote green hydrogen/ammonia production project based on renewable energy and pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) in India through the MOU.

Greenko is the second largest renewable energy company in India invested by the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund (GIC) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), with a renewable energy equipment scale of 7.2GW. Greenko is focusing on a business model of supplying green power at competitive prices by maximizing renewable energy such as wind power and solar power through pumped-storage hydroelectricity.

Ju-ik Cho, head of POSCO Holdings Hydrogen Business said, “India has abundant solar, wind resources, and excellent power grid infrastructure, making it a great environment for renewable energy production. The Indian government is also preparing an active hydrogen economy support policy, and it is one of the strategic production bases for POSCO Group, which is developing large-scale overseas green hydrogen projects. Through cooperation between the two companies, we will successfully establish a green hydrogen production model in India and prepare to supply green hydrogen and ammonia needed in Korea and Europe regions in the future.”

Gautam Reddy Kumbam, COO and Head of New Energy of Greenko said, “Greenko can stably supply green power required for hydrogen production 24 hours a day by using a business model that links renewable energy and pumped-storage hydroelectricity. We expect to create synergy in green hydrogen and ammonia production through cooperation between the two companies.”

After the signing of the MOU, the two companies plan to discover an appropriate business site within this year and start reviewing the feasibility of the green hydrogen project.

▲ POSCO Holdings signed an MOU for the hydrogen project with GreenKo of India on the 1st. From the third left in the photo is Gautam Reddy Kumbam, COO and Head of New Energy of Greenko, and Ju-ik Cho, head of POSCO Hydrogen Business Division.

▲ POSCO Holdings signed an MOU for the hydrogen project with GreenKo of India on the 1st. From the third left in the photo is Ju-ik Cho, head of POSCO Hydrogen Business Division, and Gautam Reddy Kumbam, COO and Head of New Energy of Greenko.

Plant to collect and disassemble battery scrap and used batteries in Europe and produce 7,000 tons of black mass per year

Byeong-og Yoo, Head of the Green Materials & Energy Business Team of POSCO Holdings said “Posco Holdings will continue ESG management by expanding the recycling business.”

On August 25, POSCO Holdings completed the construction of a secondary battery recycling plant PLSC in Brzeg Dolny, Poland.

The opening ceremony was attended by Head of the Green Materials & Energy Business Team of POSCO Holdings Byeong-og Yoo, Korean Ambassador to Poland Hoon-min Lim, Governor Janusz Zdziarski, Mayor of Brzeg Dolny Powel Pirek, and officials from clients and partners, including LG Energy Solutions, GS Energy, and SungEel HiTech.

Byeong-og Yoo, Head of the Green Materials & Energy Business Team of POSCO Holdings, said “The recycling business is pivotal to the virtuous cycle economy of eco-friendly batteries at the core of the secondary battery material business of the POSCO Group. We will take the lead in corporate social responsibility and secure competitiveness for secondary battery raw materials by consistently expanding the recycling business”

POSCO Holdings built the secondary battery recycling subsidiary PLSC in March last year in response to the growing secondary battery recycling market with the increase in electric vehicles and the demands of governments and major customers around the world to mandate the use of recycled materials for secondary batteries. The company cooperates with SungEel HiTech, a Korean company with proprietary technology for recycling secondary batteries, in running the plant.

PLSC, completed ten months after its ground-breaking in October 2021, is a secondary battery recycling plant with an annual production capacity of 7,000 tons. It will collect and disassemble scrap and used batteries that come out while manufacturing batteries in Europe, producing intermediate goods in the form of powder. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese will be extracted from the intermediate goods and supplied to POSCO HY Clean Metal.
*Black Mass: Black powder obtained by crushing and selectively collecting lithium-ion battery scrap. It contains nickel, lithium, cobalt, manganese, etc.

Meanwhile, the POSCO Group has been investing and developing technologies for lithium and nickel, core raw materials for secondary batteries, since it entered the business in 2010. It plans to achieve sales of 41 trillion won by building a stable secondary material value chain by 2030, producing 300,000 tons of lithium, 220,000 tons of nickel, 610,000 tons of cathode materials, and 320,000 tons of anode materials.

▲ A view of PLSC, a secondary battery recycling plant in Brzeg Dolny, Poland

▲ POSCO Holdings held an opening ceremony of a secondary battery recycling plant PLSC in Brzeg Dolny, Poland, on August 25.
(From left to right: SungEel HiTech Poland Managing Director Hyo-sung Youn, SungEel HiTech CEO Kang-myung Yi, POSCO Holdings Head of the Green Materials & Energy Business Team Byeong-og Yoo, Korean Ambassador to Poland Hoon-min Lim, Poviart Boubowski Governor Janusz Zdziarski, Mayor of Brzeg Dolny Powel Pirek, PLSC Managing Director Yang-soo Shin )

▲ POSCO Holdings held an opening ceremony of a secondary battery recycling plant PLSC in Brzeg Dolny, Poland, on August 25.
(From left to right: SungEel HiTech Poland Managing Director Hyo-sung Youn, LGESWA Executive Director Geun-tae Kim, SungEel HiTech Kang-myung Yi, POSCO Holdings Head of the Green Materials & Energy Business Team Byeong-og Yoo, Korean Ambassador to Poland Hoon-min Lim , Poviat Bowboski Governor Janusz Zdziarski, Mayor of Brzeg Dolny Powel Pirek, Deputy Mayor of Brzek Dolny Artur Michałek, POSOCO-Europe Vice President Seungmin La, PLSC Managing Director Yang-soo Shin)

Starting from this month, they will jointly design the main facilities of the HyREX demo plant … technology that directly use iron ore fines will be applied

POSCO will hold ‘HyIS Forum 2022’ in Stockholm, Sweden in October… Public participants can register for online participation by September 16^th

POSCO started designing a hydrogen reduction steelmaking demonstration plant and took the first step in the 2050 carbon-neutral roadmap.

POSCO signed a business agreement for hydrogen reduction steelmaking engineering technology cooperation with Primetals, a British plant construction company on July 26th at the Pohang Technical Research Laboratories. Ki-soo Kim, Head of POSCO’s Low-Carbon Process R&D Center, Friedemann Plaul, Senior Vice President of Iron and Steelmaking and ECO Solutions at Primetals, and Aashish Gupta, Executive Vice President of Primetals attended the signing ceremony.

Ki-soo Kim, Head of POSCO’s Low-Carbon Process R&D Center said, “Cooperation across industrial sectors such as raw materials, engineering, and hydrogen is important mainly for steel companies for the development of eco-friendly hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology. I hope to see creative and successful technology development based on the technologies of both companies.”

POSCO plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through its ‘HyREX (Hydrogen Reduction)’ technology, a unique eco-friendly hydrogen reduction steelmaking model. To this end, the company decided to start designing the HyREX demonstration plant in earnest from this month with Primetals, which jointly designed the FINEX facilities with POSCO.

Starting with this design, POSCO plans to continue the demonstration plant EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) and verify the commercial feasibility of hydrogen reduction steelmaking by 2030 in the medium term. After that, the company plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by gradually replacing the current blast furnace with HyREX-based facilities after optimizing production.

Hydrogen reduction steelmaking is a technology that uses 100% hydrogen to make Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) and melts it in an electric furnace to produce molten iron. Since there is no carbon emission in the process, it is considered a solution for carbon neutrality in the steel industry. POSCO is currently operating a FINEX facility that uses reducing gas containing 25% hydrogen and is developing HyREX, a POSCO-type hydrogen reduction steelmaking model based on FINEX technology.

FINEX is the world’s first innovative technology that POSCO succeeded in commercializing in 2007. It is a method that uses iron ore and coal, the raw materials for ironmaking, in powder form without the sintering and coking process which make raw materials into lumps. HyREX will also follow the method of reducing iron ore by directly contacting it with hydrogen in a powdery spectral state. In the case of the hydrogen reduction steelmaking model ‘shaft furnace’, which is being developed by major overseas steelmakers, iron ore must be processed into pellets that are hard lumps. However, HyREX can omit that process and use relatively low-grade ore, which is expected to be advantageous in terms of cost competitiveness.

Aashish Gupta, Executive Vice President of Primetals said, “HyREX technology could be a long-term and fundamental solution in many areas where pellets are difficult to use because it directly use iron ore fines. Let’s write a new success story based on our experience of working together to succeed in FINEX.”

Meanwhile, POSCO will hold the HyIS Forum 2022 (Hydrogen Iron & Steel Making Forum 2022) this year following last year. This forum, co-hosted by POSCO and Swedish steel company SSAB, will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 12 and 13, both online and offline. Public participants can participate online and can apply through the HyIS website (https://h2ironsteelforum.com/) until September 16th.

▲ POSCO signed a business agreement for hydrogen-based steelmaking engineering technology cooperation with Primetals Ltd. from the U.K. Ki-soo Kim, Head of POSCO’s Low-carbon process R&D center (on the left), and Friedemann Plaul, Senior Vice President of Iron and Steelmaking and ECO Solutions at Primetals are taking a commemorative photo.

POSCO and Vale, a global leading iron ore supplier, will expand cooperation to secure low-carbon steel raw materials.

On August 1st, the two companies signed a joint research agreement to promote the low-carbon HBI* production at the Vale headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ju-tae Lee, Head of Purchasing and Investment Division of POSCO and Luiz Meriz, Global Director for Sales of Iron Ore and Coal from Vale attended the signing ceremony.
*HBI(Hot Briquetted Iron): a processed iron obtained by molding reduced iron, an iron ore from which oxygen has been removed, in the shape of briquettes.

POSCO and Vale decided to conduct joint research in the areas of ▲selection of potential regions, ▲cost and investment cost analysis by the production process, and ▲carbon emission reduction measures in the production process to promote the HBI business. The two companies plan to complete a basic review for the HBI business, including the optimal location of the plant, scale, production method, and economic feasibility by the end of this year.

POSCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for carbon-neutral cooperation with Vale in November last year, and has conducted joint research on how to use low-carbon raw materials in the process. Through this agreement, the joint research field for carbon neutrality expanded to the HBI business

At the signing ceremony, Ju-tae Lee, Head of Purchasing and Investment Division of m POSCO said, “We have expanded the field of cooperation with Vale, a global iron ore supplier active in carbon emission reduction. We will seek ways to secure stable HBI with Vale, which has capabilities as a raw material supplier, and take the lead in realizing carbon neutrality.”

Luiz Meriz, Global Director for Sales of Iron Ore and Coal from Vale said, “With this agreement, both companies have come one step closer to achieving the carbon neutrality goal. We look forward to creating synergy and strengthening the cooperative relationship between the two companies through joint research on the HBI business.”

POSCO Group is establishing an eco-friendly production system to achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality goal. Also, it is strengthening the cooperative relationship with global raw material suppliers to solidify its global competitiveness through a phased conversion to a carbon-neutral production system and the establishment of an eco-friendly infrastructure.

The two companies have been trading iron ore for more than 40 years since 1976, and plan to strengthen cooperation in the field of raw material purchase and investment in the future.

▲ Ju-tae Lee, Head of Purchasing and Investment Division of POSCO (on the left) and Luiz Meriz, Global Director for Sales of Iron Ore and Coal from Vale (on the right) signed a joint research agreement to promote low-carbon HBI production at the Vale headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 1st.

Ki-moon Ban, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Cheol-soo Ahn, the leader of the People Power Party, Ki-sun Bang, the 1st Vice Minister of Economy and Finance, Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group, Kwang-woo Jun, Chairman of Institute for Global Economics, and Henny Sender, the managing director of BlackRock attended the event

Ki-moon Ban, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations said, “Carbon neutrality and ESG are in close contact with the great transformation of human civilization… we should go together without anyone left behind.”

Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group said, “Now is the era of ESG management… We will be reborn as a leading eco-friendly future material company in the carbon-neutral era.”

On the 17th, POSCO held the ‘ESG Global Summit’ international conference with IGE (Institute for Global Economics) at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas Hotel.

Domestic and foreign experts in the fields of eco-friendly energy policy, climate, and international trade participated in the conference to discuss the direction of sustainable growth in the era of great industrial transformation, as well as strategic direction and policy alternatives for the industry.

The co-organizer, Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group, Kwang-woo Jun, Chairman of Institute for Global Economics, Ki-moon Ban, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Cheol-soo Ahn, the leader of the People Power Party, Ki-sun Bang, the 1st Vice Minister of Economy and Finance, and Henny Sender, the managing director of BlackRock attended the event.

Ki-moon Ban, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations said in his congratulatory speech, “Carbon neutrality and ESG go beyond industry and economy, and are in close contact with the great transformation of human civilization. In this era of transition, we should go together without anyone left behind.”

Cheol-soo Ahn, the leader of the People Power Party said, “We will use the carbon-neutral implementation in response to the global decarbonization trend as an opportunity to transform the green economy.” “We will examine related policies and alternatives to ensure that eco-friendly growth strategies in the carbon-neutral era are well implemented,” he emphasized.

Ki-sun Bang, the 1st Vice Minister of Economy and Finance said, “We are living in the era of a black tide in which crises and disasters occur simultaneously and successively. I hope today’s event will be a meaningful occasion to overcome the current economic crisis and explore the possibility of great transformation and sustainable growth,”

Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group said, “In the changing times represented by ESG management and stakeholder capitalism, companies must create a future-oriented vision that encompasses economic and social values. POSCO Group will be reborn as a leading eco-friendly future material company in the carbon-neutral era based on the corporate citizenship management philosophy over the holding company system transformation.”

Henry A. Fernandez, CEO of MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) said in the online keynote speech, “Uncertainty is greater than ever due to COVID-19 and growth slowdown. We must work together to prepare for the challenging future all over the world.”

The conference consisted of keynote speeches and panel discussion sessions on four themes: △ advancing ESG as a central corporate strategy △ Reshaping the international order and global economic landscape △ The advent of the new international trade regime △ Industrial growth strategy in the age of carbon neutrality.

In particular, in the carbon neutrality session, Hee Kim, Senior Vice President of POSCO, who is an advisory member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Education, Science & Technology, participated in a discussion panel and explained global eco-friendly technology trends, POSCO’s development status of hydrogen reduction steel, and its 2050 carbon-neutral practice strategies.

Senior Vice President Kim said, “POSCO will secure eco-friendly technology and operational competitiveness and invest in electric furnaces and develop low-carbon operation technologies to respond flexibly to the market and customers’ demands for low-carbon products, and ultimately achieve carbon neutrality by accelerating the development of hydrogen reduction steel technology.”

Meanwhile, Henny Sender, the managing director of BlackRock who attended the conference visited the POSCO Center in Seoul the day before the conference and met with Hag-dong Kim, Vice Chairman & CEO of POSCO, and Jung-son Chon, Senior Executive Vice President of POSCO Holdings to hear about the management activities of POSCO Group, which are quickly settling down with a holding company system, including its new future projects, carbon neutrality, and ESG management. BlackRock is the world’s largest multinational investment management corporation based in the United States and is a major shareholder with a 5.02% stake in POSCO Holdings.

POSCO has designated as its signature brand, one of the five brands for corporate citizenship, and is taking the lead in realizing a low-carbon circulation economy in work and daily life with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

▲ Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group is giving a welcome speech at the ‘ESG Global Summit’ international conference.

▲ POSCO held the ‘ESG Global Summit’ international conference with IGE (Institute for Global Economics) at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas Hotel on June 17th. From the third left in the front row of the photo, Jeong-woo Choi, CEO of POSCO Group, Cheol-soo Ahn, the leader of the People Power Party, Ki-moon Ban, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ki-sun Bang, the 1st Vice Minister of Economy and Finance.

POSCO is supplying PosLoop355 steel for hyperloop tubes to Hardt, a Dutch company.

*Hyperloop: An eco-friendly future transportation driving a magnetic levitation capsule inside a large vacuum tube at 1,000 km/h or more. Its energy consumption is 8% of an airplane and the construction cost is 50% of an expressway. The quantity of steel required for manufacturing tubes is 2,000 tons per 1 km, so 800,000 tons would be required to build a hyperloop between Seoul and Busan (400 km).

PosLoop355 is a hot-rolled steel for hyperloop tubes that POSCO co-developed with Tata Steel Netherlands, and POSCO will supply 275 tons of PosLoop355 for the 450-meter test track of the European Hyperloop Center (EHC) that Hardt will install in Veendam City in Groningen, Netherlands from June to December.

* European Hyperloop Center (EHC): This is a sub-project of the Hyperloop Development Program (HDP), a national project for development of a hyperloop that Hardt and the Dutch government are carrying out. A test track and research facilities will be installed in this center for the commercialization of the hyperloop. Hardt has the technology to change tracks of hyperloop capsules that travel at high speed and will apply this technology to the test track.

POSCO participated in joint research to develop dedicated steel for hyperloops and a structure solution with Tata Steel Netherlands for the Hyperloop Development Program (HDP), a Dutch national project supervised by Hardt from 2020. POSCO completed development of PosLoop355 in October last year and will additionally supply about 1,800 tons for the 2.7-km-long test track until 2025.

The core of a hyperloop is the straightness and stability of tubes for ultra-high speed travel, so the material of the tube must endure the vibration and shock that occur during high-speed travel. Steel is recognized as the most suitable material for hyperloop tubes because it has excellent airtightness that maintains the internal pressure of the hyperloop in a vacuum state as much as possible for a long time compared to other materials and has excellent processability for precisely connecting tubes.

The PosLoop355 steel POSCO developed is evaluated to have raised the stability of hyperloops, as it has 1.7 times higher vibration absorption than general steel and excellent seismic performance. POSCO has created a differentiated technology and has applied for nine patents related to structure technologies such as a manufacturing method for steel specialized for the tubes of vacuum tube trains.

In particular, POSCO will supply 63 tons out of an initial volume of 275 tons to SeAH Steel to make 64 m tubes with a 2.5 meter diameter, and then supply the tubes to the Netherlands. This is because POSCO aims to respond to the hyperloop market, which has great growth potential, along with its customer company by promoting its specialized steel, as well as Korean tube-making technology using the steel, overseas.

”POSCO will become a global leader in the eco-friendly future mobility market by mass producing and supplying steel specialized for hyperloops, future transportation, through cooperation between POSCO Europe, POSCO International and SeAH Steel,” said Dae-up Kim, Head of the Hot Rolled and Wire Rod Marketing Office of POSCO.

POSCO plans to actively supply steel to hyperloop projects that will be carried out at home and abroad with this supply of steel to the EHC test track as a start.

▲ POSCO will supply PosLoop355 steel for hyperloop tubes to the EHC that will be installed by Hardt, a Dutch company. The photo shows a 2.5-meter diameter hyperloop tube that SeAH Steel is making using PosLoop355.

▲ POSCO will supply PosLoop355 steel for hyperloop tubes to the EHC that will be installed by Hardt, a Dutch company. The photo shows a 2.5-meter diameter hyperloop tube that SeAH Steel is making using PosLoop355.

In order to actively respond to the rapid growth of the eco-friendly vehicle market and demands for energy improved efficiency in home appliance products, POSCO started the construction of non-oriented electrical steel sheet* plant in Gwangyang Works with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.

* Electrical steel sheet : A steel sheet that contains 1~5% silicon (Si) that is used as an iron core material for motors, generators, etc., due to its excellent electromagnetic properties and low power loss. Electric steel sheets are largely divided into non-oriented and oriented electrical steel based on their electromagnetic properties. “Non-oriented electrical steel sheets(NO)” have uniform magnetic properties in all directions and are used for rotary drive motors, and “oriented electrical steel sheets(GO)” are mainly used in stationary transformers.

The groundbreaking ceremony held at Gwangyang Works was attended by Hag-dong Kim, Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO, Kyung-ho Kim, Deputy Mayor of Gwangyang, Jin-man Park, Head of the Jeonnam Branch of the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, and representatives and executives of customer companies and others such as Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

“Today we are celebrating a new start by extending the production of electrical steel sheets, which were only produced in Pohang Works, to Gwangyang. With this investment, POSCO will solidify its position of a global supplier that leads the eco-friendly vehicle and high-end home appliances markets by establishing production system for the world’s best non-oriented electrical steel sheets in both Pohang and Gwangyang,” said Hag-dong Kim, Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO. “POSCO has achieved remarkable qualitative and quantitative growth, such as being selected as the most competitive steelworks in the world for 12 years in a row. However, in order to continue to grow in today’s rapidly changing business environment, we should respond preemptively to the needs of customers and accelerate the development of products and solutions that will lead the high value-added market,” he added.

Along with the emergence of carbon neutral as a new world order and increasing social interest in the environment, the demand for electrical steel sheets that can improve the energy efficiency of electronic devices is continuously increasing in domestic and overseas markets. In particular, demand for non-oriented electrical steel sheets, which is material for the drive motors of eco-friendly vehicles, is rapidly increasing.

According to IHS Markit, a global market research firm, demand for non-oriented electrical steel sheets for eco-friendly vehicles is expected to increase by 20% annually, from 320,000 tons in 2020 to 4 million tons in 2033. The firm analyzed that demand will outstrip supply from 2025, causing a shortage about 927,000 tons from 2030.

In November 2021, the POSCO Board of Directors decided to establish the non-oriented electrical steel sheet plant by investing about KRW 1 trillion to preemptively respond to the eco-friendly future materials market.

Currently, POSCO has an annual electrical steel sheet production capacity of 830,000 tons including 100,000 tons of high-efficiency non-oriented electrical steel sheets and will secure a total capacity of 1.13 million tons including 400,000 tons of high-efficiency non-oriented electrical steel sheets when construction is completed in 2025.

POSCO will respond to the various needs of customers by reducing the thickness of electrical steel sheets by 0.1 mm and increasing width with the latest facilities that will be introduced and operational know-how that has been accumulated for more than 40 years since the first production of electrical steel sheet in 1979. In addition, about 210,000 construction workers are expected to participate in the construction, contributing to job creation and revitalization of the local economy in Gwangyang.

POSCO will continue large-scale investment and technical development to accelerate the transfer to an eco-friendly and low-carbon production system, and plans to become a steel company with top-notch product competitiveness by pursuing three strategic brand-based sales strategies: new mobility (e Autopos), premium steel (INNOVILT), and green energy (Greenable).

POSCO was named the Sustainability Champion, a first for a Korean steel company, in the regular conference of the World Steel Association in the first half of the year, which was held in London, UK, on April 11 and 12 (Korean time).

The World Steel Association has been selecting companies that lead sustainability of steel industry as Sustainability Champion among about 140 members since 2018. A total of 15 steel companies have been selected as of last year by reevaluating all member companies every year to encourage them to maintain a high level of sustainable management. This year, only POSCO was chosen, while six existing sustainability champions were eliminated and only nine companies were selected again.

To become a Sustainability Champion, companies should satisfy the following five requirements: i) selection as an excellent sustainability member ii) a finalist in the Steelie Awards iii) publication of a sustainability report iv) submission of sustainability data and v) submission of carbon emission by material and process (Life Cycle Inventory, LCI) data. The steel makers selected as Sustainability Champions are recognized as exemplary cases of ESG management and receive the highest honor.

POSCO satisfied all of the five criteria and was selected as the only new best member this year in recognition of its efforts and achievements in ESG management, including the Net-zero carbon 2050 Declaration, establishment of dedicated ESG organization, and establishment of advanced governance.

“This is an outcome of the POSCO Group’s ceaseless efforts for net-zero carbon and development of green materials and energy,” said POSCO Group CEO Jeong-woo Choi. “We will keep leading global ESG management and sustainability trends in the steel industry based on a management philosophy of corporate citizen..”

CEO Choi participated in a meeting of the executive committee, the highest decision-making body, which was held during the regular conference. The executive committee, consisting of the CEOs of 16 global steelmakers, discussed major issues steelmakers around the world face, such as the joint development of carbon emission reduction technology, a future mobility steel solution, and the effect of the world’s infrastructure investment trends on the steel industry.

In the meeting, CEO Choi gained the consensus of the committee by proposing to establish a consortium under the World Steel Association to achieve net-zero carbon, a global issue, and to jointly develop carbon emission reduction technology in the steel industry.

CEO Choi was appointed vice chairman of the World Steel Association in October last year and will represent the world’s steel industry as chairman from October this year.

▲ CEO Jeong-woo Choi of the POSCO Group holds a Sustainability Champion certificate from the World Steel Association.

The Carbon Neutral Committee and Carbon Neutral Green Steel Technology Advisory Panel, which will play leading roles to achieve POSCO’s Net-Zero Carbon 2050, started operation in earnest.

The Carbon Neutral Committee is a consultative group that was launched on March 16 to coordinate the net-zero carbon vision POSCO has established in all areas from a company-wide perspective, quickly make decisions, and examine major issues occurring along with the implementation of a net-zero carbon roadmap. Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO Hag-dong Kim will preside over the meeting every quarter as chairperson and examine the implementation status of the net-zero carbon roadmap to enhance its driving force.

“Most of all, quick decision making is important for POSCO to have a system to actively respond to requests for net-zero carbon by global customer companies and to accelerate the conversion to a carbon neutral production system by 2050,” Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO Kim stressed at the kick-off meeting held on March 16. He said that he will improve the executive ability for carbon neutral by discussing the company’s net-zero carbon strategies in depth through the Carbon Neutral Committee and making timely decisions such as related investments.

Another consultative group that will play a key role to achieve POSCO’s net-zero carbon along with the Carbon Neutral Committee is the Carbon Neutral Green Steel Technology Advisory Panel. The panel, which includes eight external experts who will advise on strategies for work fields such as steel and CCUS technologies, was launched in January to strengthen the roadmap by adding objectivity and professionalism to the Net-Zero Carbon 2050 vision, form an external consensus and seek ways to cooperate with industry-academic collaboration.

The first meeting of the Carbon Neutral Green Steel Technology Advisory Panel was held on March 29 in Pohang, and was attended by Se-don Choo, head of POSCO Technical Research Laboratories, department officials who will play pivotal roles in achieving carbon neutral such as technology and environment, and consultants. They gave presentations and discussed CCUS technology development trends.

In the meeting, the government’s steel preliminary feasibility business and CCUS task progress status were shared and members discussed the possibility of materialization of technology by analyzing cases of overseas CCU technology commercialization and discussed ways to apply it to the steel process.

POSCO declared “Net-Zero Carbon 2050” in December 2020 for the first time as an Asian steelmaker, announced the “Net-Zero Carbon 2050 Roadmap” last year, and then launched the Carbon Neutral Committee and Carbon Neutral Green Steel Technology Advisory Panel this year.

In the future, POSCO plans to develop innovative low-carbon process technologies based on these two pillars, secure eco-friendly fuel and raw materials, and gradually switch to a green steel production system.

▲ A panoramic view of the conference center where the Carbon Neutral Committee’s first meeting was held on March 16 at POSCO Center in Daechi-dong, Seoul (Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO Hag-dong Kim is on the far left)

▲ Vice Chairman & POSCO CEO Hag-dong Kim, who participated in the kick-off meeting of the Carbon Neutral Committee explains to participants how to operate the consultative group and major plans.

POSCO, along with Hancock, an Australian resource development company, will start a feasibility study to promote low-carbon steel raw material production projects.

On March 29, the two companies signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) to investigate the business feasibility of an HBI* production project at the headquarters of Hancock in Perth, Australia. Joo-tae Lee, head of the Purchasing and Investment Division of POSCO and Garry Korte, CEO of Hancock, attended the signing ceremony.
＊Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) : A processed iron obtained by molding reduced iron, an iron ore from which oxygen has been removed (reduced), in the shape of briquette.

Through the signing of the agreement, the two companies plan to conduct detailed feasibility studies in areas such as the establishment of an HBI plant, development of an iron ore mine in Australia, and investment in a pilot facility for the production of hydrogen, and closely examine the investment economy and risks.

The two companies will secure high quality iron ore stably by jointly developing a mine in Australia that Hancock owns, and examine the establishment of a low carbon HBI manufacturing plant in which carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by using hydrogen as a reducing agent. Furthermore, the hydrogen used as a reducing agent is planned to be produced directly using Australia’s excellent renewable energy conditions.

POSCO signed an MoU with Hancock in July last year and has conducted a preliminary feasibility study on HBI production, and plans to decide on investment after conducting a detailed review by the end of this year through this HoA.

Joo-tae Lee, head of the Purchasing and Investment Division of POSCO, said ”This agreement is the first business POSCO is promoting for the production of low carbon steel since POSCO was launched as a steel company under the holding company system. We will take this opportunity to examine the production of low carbon steel material with Hancock, which has resource development capabilities, and lead a new steel era.”

With the launch in March of POSCO Holdings, its holding company, POSCO Group plans to proactively establish an eco-friendly production system to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 and will become a representative green materials and energy business company by solidifying competitiveness through a step-by-step transition to a carbon neutral production system and eco-friendly infrastructure.

POSCO Group jointly invested with Hancock in Roy Hill mine in 2010 and has been operating it successfully. Recently, POSCO International and Hancock Energy jointly acquired Senex Energy, an Australian company that produces and develops natural gas. The two companies plan to develop a strategic partnership to share new growth visions in the fields of low carbon material, energy, secondary battery materials (nickel, lithium), etc.

▲ POSCO and Hancock representatives take a commemorative photograph after signing HoA for investigating business feasibility of low carbon HBI production project. From left, Garry Korte, CEO of Hancock, Joo-tae Lee, head of the Purchasing and Investment Division of POSCO, and Tad Watroba, executive director of Hancock