Partnering for transformation

"The world is changing; climate protection has become a task for society as a whole. National, international politics has set a clear course. We, Salzgitter AG, are rising to the challenge of CO2 reduction, we see it as an opportunity and place it at the center of our actions. This takes courage, courage towards change towards sustainable production processes, sustainable solutions and products - together with our customers."

Gunnar Groebler, Chief Executive Officer

Measures for decarbonization

Firmly anchored in our Salzgitter AG 2030 strategy
 

Find out more

CO2 reduction
by more than 50%
We are driving forward the shift to a virtually CO2-free steelmaking process. Our aim is to halve Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030.
Accelerated
decarbonization
The SALCOS® project, which is unique in Europe, makes us pioneers in the decarbonization of the steel industry. Every year from 2033 we will save around 1% of Germany's CO2 emissions.
Expansion of
scrap recycling
Our scrap recycling activities are to be expanded to 3 million tons per year under the SALCOS® transformation program. This will allow us to use high-quality secondary raw materials in steel production.
Electricity from
sustainable sources
Our electricity is to come exclusively from renewable sources by 2030. As early as 2025, 50 % of our electricity requirements are to be sourced from non-fossil sources.
Changeover to
SALCOS® route
From 2026 a third of our production will be switched to the SALCOS® route. The previous coking coal-based process will be replaced by a hydrogen-based process for the production of crude steel.
Complete
transformation
The transformation to low-CO2 steelmaking is scheduled to be completed as early as 2033 - 12 years earlier than originally planned.
100 %

towards the future

An example from practice

Steel as the cornerstone of tomorrow's sustainable industry

Scenario

As part of a study by Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, a steel control arm concept was conceived, designed and evaluated as a reference to an aluminum forged control arm. This offers interesting advantages in terms of costs and environmental balance with an acceptable additional weight.

Life cycle

Due to the slightly higher weight of the steel component compared with the aluminum component, more emissions are emitted over the vehicle's service life. Due to the lower emissions during production and recycling, the steel component nevertheless has a better CO2 balance.

Production

Especially in the production phase, steel is characterized by low emissions of CO2 equivalents. By using steel from the SALCOS® process route, emissions in production can be further reduced.

Life cycle emmisions steel vs. aluminium handlebar

The background data for the following tool has been defined by our life cycle analysis experts and comes mainly from the licensed database of LCA for Experts software from the company Sphera (https://sphera.com/life-cycle-assessment-lca-software/). All data were carefully researched and selected. Nevertheless, deviations can result which influence the LCA of the component positively or negatively and thus make a concept (steel/aluminum) appear better or worse. The tool is therefore not intended for a concrete component evaluation, but is intended to visualize the most important trends, e.g. green steel, and other influencing factors, such as the type of drive in this example, and to illustrate them in a playful way - We will be happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

Vehicle emissions

Vehicle emissions per 100 km: gCO2eq/km
Electric vehicle "green electricity"Electric vehicleHybridPetrolDiesel

Emissions steel production

CO2 Emissions production (Steel blast furnace): kgCO2eq
Green steel from PeineSALCOS®Blast furnace route

Emissions aluminum production

CO2 Emissionen Produktion (Aluminiumlenker): kgCO2eq
Green aluPrimary alu conv. Eurostrommix
Green Steel

Green Steel Classification System

The system for classifying products in the steel industry in connection with the introduction of lead markets provides for an independently verified classification of products according to uniform rules depending on the direct, indirect and significant upstream greenhouse gas emissions generated during production and the scrap ratio. It thus allows the user of a lead market instrument to classify products uniformly across a large number of different production processes and product grades.

The various steel grades can thus be assigned to classes, which are formed on the basis of the graphic shown. A high scrap content thus has a slightly positive effect on emissions. By using directly reduced iron, primary emissions can be significantly reduced even without the use. In this way, steels with higher material composition requirements can also be decarbonized.

Sustainable future

SALCOS®

With SALCOS® we have joined forces with partners from industry and research to lay the foundations for virtually CO2-free steel production. Central elements of the program are electricity from renewable sources and its use in the production of hydrogen by electrolysis. This green hydrogen will replace the coal we currently use in the conventional blast furnace process.

This will be possible with the help of so-called direct reduction plants, in which iron ore is reduced to iron directly in the solid state by hydrogen. This technology emits water vapor instead of CO2.

Our SALCOS® program thus pursues the Carbon Direct Avoidance strategy, which stands for avoiding the generation of CO2 in steel production from the outset. Overall, we will be able to reduce our CO2 emissions by 95%.
 

Discover SALCOS®

100 %

of the steel can be recycled
during steel production –
without any loss of quality at all

Circularity

Recycling strategy

Scrap already plays an essential role in today's steel production. For example, most of the scrap available on the market is used for the production of new steels in the blast furnace for process-related reasons. Due to the future use of electric arc furnaces, the importance of steel in the steel industry is also changing. Scrap can thus be melted down directly to produce steel grades with a high scrap content. In this process, only grades of lower strength classes with a high scrap content can be produced. In the future, the aim is to achieve a scrap content of 20 - 60 %. In this way, an even lower CO2 impact with a low environmental impact can be realized. The production volume of recycling steels continues to be linked to the amount of available scrap.

Another driver

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

CBAM is part of the "Fit for 55" package of the European Union (EU). One of the main goals of this package is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 55% by 2030. 

The European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) is a key climate protection instrument of the EU under which companies have to purchase a corresponding amount of emission allowances. However, for cost reasons, some companies decide to relocate their production to countries that follow less ambitious climate policies. However, the lower costs they would have to pay for CO2 certificates there would give them a competitive advantage. To prevent this, particularly emissions-intensive industries have been allocated emissions certificates free of charge in some cases up to now.

The CBAM system is now intended to counteract this by equalizing the costs of CO2 pricing for imported goods and goods produced in the EU. To this end, imports of certain emission-intensive products into the EU are to be subject to a compensation payment that supplements the level of costs that would have been incurred for production within the EU. The free allocation of emission allowances is also to be phased out by 2034.