Above: voestalpine is investing 1.5 billion euros over the coming years to create greentec steel, Austria's largest climate protection program, by installing EAFs in Linz and Donawitz.
December, 2025- Just as there are ups and downs in the commodity metal markets, there are ups and downs in the movement toward net zero emissions in steel and aluminum production. Some of the notable roadblocks include costs, delays in receiving permissions, trade barriers, misalignment of goals internationally and the uneven pace of emerging technologies. We have looked at the latest industry reports, announcements, partnerships, research projects and product applications in the hopes of providing our readers with some idea of what’s happening in the decarbonization space.
STANDARDS AGREEMENT
Amid industry calls for greater consistency and clarity across carbon standards at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, ResponsibleSteel created partnerships with two standards: Europe’s Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS) and China’s Low-carbon Emission Steel Standard (C2F Steel). The goal is to advance global comparability and trade in low-emission and nearzero steel, covering some 60 percent of the world’s steel production.
ResponsibleSteel’s agreements with Chinese and European steel standards bodies extend a common approach to GHG measurement and classification to cover over half of global steel production.
These partnerships connect producers, consumers and innovators across the global steel value chain under interoperable definitions of low-emission steel, accelerating the sector’s path towards deep decarbonization.
By aligning some of the world’s largest steel industries, the agreements pave the way for greater investment, green procurement, technology exchange and international cooperation in sustainable steelmaking.
This approach, already recognized by the G7 and incorporated into international standards, is a practical, science-based solution that supports the global transition to lowemission steel without compromising integrity. It prevents fruitless competition for a limited scrap supply; incentivizes decarbonization across all steel production routes; and promotes technology-neutral solutions in line with international trade rules and helps to reduce creating unnecessary barriers to trade.
Ninety ResponsibleSteel certificates have been earned around the world so far.
“These agreements pave the way to the first real examples of interoperability between standards—a breakthrough development which will provide clarity for steel producers, buyers, investors and policymakers,” Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel, said in a statement Nov. 14.
Volvo Group used fossil-free steel produced by SSAB to manufacture a load carrier for use in mining and quarrying.
Establishing a unified framework for international reference standards is essential to accelerate the decarbonization of the steel industry and ensure transparency and credibility across global markets. We believe this initiative will foster trust, drive innovation and enable the industry to meet its climate commitments with consistency and rigor,” commented Philippe Aubron, head of Global Automotive for ArcelorMittal.
ELECTROLYSIS
Stegra, a Swedish company founded in 2020 with the purpose of decarbonizing a hard-toabate industry, has nearly completed four electrolyzer buildings and installed the process equipment that will produce green hydrogen, which will be used to produce cleaner iron and steel.
The 20-megawatt electrolyzers from thyssenkrupp nucera use alkaline water electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using 100 percent renewable electricity, enabling the production of 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.
The green hydrogen will then be used to purify iron ore in a green iron plant. In a direct reduction process, the green hydrogen reacts with the oxygen in the iron ore, producing green direct-reduced iron that is then used to make green steel. The main byproduct is water.
Stegra’s first steel production lines will go live in 2026 using recycled steel scrap as raw material, with green hydrogen-based iron and steelmaking beginning shortly thereafter and a full-scale ramp-up in 2027. By 2028, the company aims to reach steady-state operations across the green hydrogen, green iron and green steel plants.
The company also signed a supply agreement from Microsoft to supply steel with nearzero emissions for Microsoft’s data centers. Stegra will deliver to data center equipment manufacturers steel that contains up to 95 percent lower emissions than product made through conventional steelmaking.
NET ZERO RESEARCH
Primetals Technologies, a global plant engineering company; voestalpine, an Austrian steelmaker; and Rio Tinto, a mining company; recently broke ground in Linz, Austria, for a Hy4Smelt plant. The three partners say Hy4Smelt will be the world’s first industrial- scale demonstration plant capable of combining two technologies: a hydrogen- based directreduction process for ultra-fine iron ores and an electric smelting process.
The demonstration plant, to cost €170 million, should begin production by the end of 2027, with the research project ending in 2030.
The hydrogen-based direct reduction for ultra-fine iron ores will be achieved using an electric smelting process. The hot DRI or HBI produced in this process is melted while the slag is separated out, generating high-quality pig iron.
Vattenfall will use fossil free steel from SSAB to build a dam gate, to be installed at its hydropower station in Stornorrfors in 2028.
Vattenfall will use fossil free steel from SSAB to build a dam gate, to be installed at its hydropower station in Stornorrfors in 2028.
“Coal-fired blast furnaces, for centuries the backbone of steel production, are placing a significant and growing burden on the environment,” says Alexander Fleischanderl, chief technology officer and head of green steel at Primetals Technologies. “This is where Hy4Smelt comes in: These solutions pave the way for a new era in steel production.”
Rio Tinto will supply 70 percent of the iron ore for the Hy4Smelt plant, provide technical support to the project and support the development and future commercialization of these technologies. EAF EDGE Steel Dynamics Inc. has launched a line of lower- embodied-carbon steel product: BioEdge and Edge, to support customers in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The products are made in electric arc furnaces, and are matched with Green-e Energy certified renewable energy certificates or emission-free nuclear energy certificates, significantly reducing Scope 2 emissions. BioEdge further reduces embodied carbon in the EAF steelmaking process by using renewable biocarbon as a replacement for anthracite.
The Edge family of steel products will be available across SDI’s steel operations. The company anticipates immediate interest from automotive and construction customers, and from across the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors. The renewable biocarbon used to produce BioEdge will be sourced exclusively from SDI Biocarbon Solutions, which is 75 percent owned by Steel Dynamics and 25 percent owned by Aymium.
HYDROPOWER APPLICATION
Vattenfall, an electric utility, and steelmaker SSAB signed an agreement for the delivery of 120 tonnes of fossil-free steel for what will be the world’s first fossil-free dam gate. The dam gate will be the largest steel component (11 by 21 meters) ever produced with nearzero carbon dioxide emissions in the ironmaking. The gate will be installed in Vattenfall’s hydropower station in Stornorrfors in 2028.
The fossil-free steel from SSAB is produced with sponge iron from Hybrit’s pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden, jointly owned by Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB. The Hybrit technology virtually eliminates carbon dioxide emissions in iron production. “Vattenfall’s goal is to have net-zero emissions throughout our value chain by 2040,” says Lovisa Fricot Norén, CEO of Vattenfall’s Nordic hydropower.
“With forward-looking partners like Vattenfall, we continue to lead the transformation of the steel industry. We already have a successful collaboration on Hybrit and are now showing what we can achieve to reduce the climate footprint throughout the value chain,” says Thomas Hörnfeldt, vice president of sustainability at SSAB.
SCALING UP
Eurasia Group, a risk consulting firm, joined with global aluminum producer Alcoa to produce a report on competitiveness and the green transition in the aluminum industry. The report, released in September, says that driven by the global energy transition, demand for low-emission raw materials continues to rise. “In this context, aluminum producers must find ways to marry economic competitiveness with ambitious carbon reduction goals,” the report states. In the face of geopolitical volatility, supply chain disruption and rapidly evolving trade and regulatory landscapes, industry leaders face a dual mandate: increase the production of low-carbon aluminum that enables decarbonization in downstream sectors while reducing their own carbon footprint.
“Despite impressive progress—such as the increased use of renewable energy and heightened industry collaboration—the sector’s emissions trajectory remains inadequate, underscoring the indispensable role of breakthrough technology in achieving global climate goals,” the report claims.
Green production initiatives “have been largely reactive, as producers assess supply chain traceability obligations, often without the support of policy frameworks that promote sustainable production. Regional divergence creates both barriers and opportunities, especially in light of new policy initiatives such as the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), designed to reward low-emission producers.”
The number of net-zero aligned aluminum projects announced in 2024 tripled compared to the previous year, underscoring a growing consensus on the need for ambitious climate action. Moreover, the First Movers Coalition, and its parallel First Suppliers Hub repository, a global initiative facilitating the purchase of cleaner products from hard-toabate industries, has encouraged major manufacturers and buyers to commit to procuring at least 10 percent of their primary aluminum from near-zero-emissions processes by 2030. These developments illustrate the industry’s increasing willingness to make advanced commitments and share risks to accelerate the adoption of new technologies.
The report did note that in the United States, “cumbersome permitting procedures extend development timelines, with energy projects averaging 4.5 years to complete and transmission projects stretching to 7.5 years.”
Overall, the consultancy predicts that companies across the aluminum supply chain will proactively use this moment to get ahead with three key actions: ensure secondary aluminum is decarbonized in addition to primary aluminum to capitalize on momentum toward the low-carbon circular economy; deepen supply chain traceability through digital solutions; and turn global policy fragmentation into a market advantage.
“Treating competitiveness and carbon reduction as mutually exclusive priorities poses significant strategic risks. These three initiatives support both objectives while delivering on the rapidly changing needs of global aluminum supply and demand,” the report states.
RECYCLING, RECASTING
Each year, about 700 commercial aircraft retire, joining more than 16,000 planes that are grounded for good, according to the ReMade Institute. Given that aluminum makes up some 80 percent of an average aircraft by weight, the world’s decommissioned fleet is a valuable material resource. While most of the aluminum used in industrial markets like vehicles and buildings is recycled, aerospace aluminum remains a relatively untapped resource, the institute states.
Aerospace aluminum alloys do pose significant recycling challenges. Because they are relatively high in alloying elements, most of those elements are retained during remelting. This limits recovery and recycling options for these alloys to the production of extrusions or rolled sheets, which carry associated embodied-energy costs and in-process material losses. In addition, aerospace alloys are difficult to cast into complex shapes and are susceptible to cracking.
However, a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Eck Industries Inc. developed a process for recycling AA7075, a wrought aluminum alloy commonly used for aircraft components. The process converts AA7075 scrap directly into a high-strength, castable secondary alloy with mechanical properties comparable to premium aluminum casting alloys.
Grade 7075 alloys tend to exhibit “hot tearing,” or the formation of irreversible cracks. The team sought to mitigate this tendency and enhance the castability of the primary wrought aluminum scrap feedstock through dilution and alloying additions.
The material for a pedestrian bridge in Norway is scrap from a demolished oil platform in the North Sea.
In a pilot-scale casting trial conducted by Eck Industries, a composition labeled SN72-M was successfully cast into defect-free automotive cylinder heads.
The hot tearing index of scrap AA7075 was reduced from 26 to 4. The developed secondary 7075 alloy also satisfied preset target mechanical properties with strength levels exceeding 250 Mpa and elongation levels higher than 3 percent.
Replicating this project has the potential to recycle 35,000 metric tons of secondary aluminum, reducing energy consumption by up to 6.5 petajoules compared with traditional smelting, and CO2-equivalent emissions could be reduced by 370,000 metric tons.
BUILDING BRIDGES
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration opened a new pedestrian bridge in Trondheim this year, built by Leirvik AS in collaboration with Hydro, an aluminum producer. The Hangar bridge was made entirely from recycled aluminum sourced from the decommissioned Gyda oil platform, which operated in the North Sea from 1990 to 2021.
Measuring 55 meters long and 9 meters wide and weighing 60 tonnes, the bridge was assembled off site by Leirvik before being lifted into place.
“This project shows how aluminum can be a key material for the bridges of tomorrow,” says Trond Furu, vice president of research and innovation at Hydro.
The roads administration commissioned the bridge as a pilot project to gain experience for future aluminum constructions. Leirvik AS has experience with building large aluminum constructions for offshore applications.
“Our long-term customer Leirvik saw the opportunity to reuse the old aluminum for the bridge project, so we jumped on it and transported the scrap to our recycling facility in Sweden. After remelting the aluminum, we produced new profiles for the bridge,” says Thomas B. Svendsen, business development and sustainability manager at Hydro Extrusions.
There is progress on many fronts for the aluminum and steel industries to build upon so that they are able to reduce emissions still further in their own operations and produce cleaner products that benefit all of society.
