The EWI is investigating ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on the competitiveness of steel-producing countries. In addition to an extensive calculation of the carbon footprint of various production routes, country-specific production costs are also determined. In addition to Germany, the five largest steel-producing countries China, India, Russia, the United States and Japan were considered.
The study considers three different scenarios for mitigating emissions from the steel industry and compares the production costs of different steel production routes and the cost differences (cost gap) between countries. Comparing the possible future cost gap with the historical cost gap shows that the gap is not increasing but rather decreasing. Germany’s competitiveness could therefore increase if low-emission steel were produced worldwide.
