Why Have Steel Emissions Policies Forgotten About Recycling?

Steelmaking currently accounts for approximately eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The only way to achieve net zero goals is to significantly reduce steel emissions worldwide. And there is no way to do that without recycling. The emission intensity of recycling-based steelmaking through an electric furnace is roughly 70 percent lower than integrated ore-based steelmaking in a blast furnace. If we are to achieve the ambitious emissions reductions needed to meet Paris Agreement 2050 steel sector targets, then recycling-based, circular steelmaking will have to play a substantial role.

Why then do many leading international institutions and steel manufacturers argue for emission policies that discourage recycling altogether? ResponsibleSteel, for instance, advocates for a sliding scale approach, which applies different emissions levels to steel products based on the percentage of recycled steel scrap used to produce them. That is, if you recycle less and