That steel chair, car chassis, roof, or bridge you used today is not only an amazingly functional item, it’s also the bearer of a huge climate cost. Steel is the most-used metal in the world. Making it demands massive amounts of fossil fuels to melt and amalgamate the raw materials that comprise it, as well as to mine and extract the materials in the first place. 

Researchers are developing new ways to make steel that reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels. One approach to “green steel” is to use hydrogen fuel produced with electricity generated from wind, solar, or other emissions-free energy sources. Another is to use an electric furnace powered by clean electricity. 

Since these processes aren’t yet being used at an industrial scale, they are generally more expensive than fossil fuel–based steel production. If demand for steel continues to grow, this approach will get cheaper.

Although recycled steel is now common, raw steel still requires minerals and materials to be extracted. That’s why it’s essential that we maintain, retrofit and properly use the buildings and materials that we have already, and make new products out of reused and bio-based materials as a first priority, avoiding carbon-intense materials and new demand for steel wherever possible.

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• Steelmaking (Wikipedia)

• Green Steel (World Economic Forum, WEF) 

• Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap (International Energy Agency)

• Recycled Metals (Project Drawdown)

• The Disruptive Potential of Green Steel (Rocky Mountain Institute)

• Think twice before buying a product made with steel. Might there be a more environmentally friendly option?

• When you do buy a product made with steel, buy one that will last. If you find yourself no longer in need of it, sell or donate it to another user.

• When a steel product is no longer functional, recycle rather than discard it.

• If you are involved with planning a new building, ask your architectural team about reducing the amount of steel used in construction and whether there are recycled, reused or bio-based alternative structures that could be specified.