thyssenkrupp sets climate targets

In February, thyssenkrupp was named as a global leader in climate protection for a third year running by the non-governmental organisation, CDP, which assesses whether companies have formulated a coherent strategy on how to further improve their own environmental performance, as well as that of customers and suppliers. The company achieved the highest possible score and was placed on CDP’s global ‘A List’. The list includes roughly 130 businesses worldwide and only five DAX companies.

The company’s new targets take in thyssenkrupp’s own production operations, the energy it purchases, and its products. For example, in steel production the company is currently pursuing two approaches to reducing CO₂ emissions: The Carbon2Chem project, which is expected to be available on an industrial scale before 2030, and the so-called hydrogen route, which should take full effect by 2050 and make the biggest contribution to directly avoiding CO₂. Carbon2Chem converts steel mill emission gases, including the CO₂ they contain, into valuable chemicals. thyssenkrupp’s hydrogen route involves replacing coal with ‘green’ hydrogen as the reducing agent for blastfurnaces so that, in the long term, no CO₂ is created in the production of steel. These technologies are being funded by the German federal government and the state of the North Rhine-Westphalia.

Under the Climate Action Program for Sustainable Solutions, thyssenkrupp will also systematically work to make its products carbon neutral. The Group already offers a technology for the cement industry that permits CO₂ emissions from the combustion processes to be captured for subsequent storage or processing. In the area of sustainable mobility, thyssenkrupp is working with European partners to produce fuel from biomass. These fuels reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional fuels.

Other key areas include the e-mobility sector, where thyssenkrupp supplies battery production lines and special steels for electric motors. The Group is also actively involved in the development of energy storage solutions, for example with electrolysis systems that convert electricity into hydrogen. These storage systems allow a constant supply of electricity from renewables regardless of the weather.

“These threats posed by climate change affect us all,” said Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of thyssenkrupp. “As an industrial company with operations around the globe, we are in a particularly good position to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable products and processes. We take this responsibility very seriously and have received several awards for this in recent years. Now we are setting ourselves clear targets for 2030 and 2050 as the next logical step.”

“Our goals are ambitious but achievable,” said Dr Donatus Kaufmann, thyssenkrupp Industrial Board Member responsible for technology, innovation, sustainability, legal, and compliance. “Our strategy for our steel operations alone will cut production-related emissions there by 80% by 2050. But if we are to achieve our climate targets we need to make significantly more use of renewable energies. Also, there are no internationally harmonised financial incentives for investments in CO₂ abatement technologies. These are basic requirements for making a real change.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/03072019/thyssenkrupp-sets-climate-targets/