Sustainability
From blast furnace to green electric arc.
voestalpine has set a phased path to carbon-neutral steel production by 2050. The bridge technology is electric arc furnaces powered by green electricity, with hydrogen-based direct reduction the long-term goal.
Key milestones
| Year | Target |
|---|---|
| 2027 | Two EAFs in operation (Linz, Donawitz); ~30% CO2 reduction |
| 2030 | Scale renewable electricity supply, scrap sourcing, HBI input |
| 2050 | Net carbon-neutral steel production via hydrogen-based DRI + EAF |
Bridge & long-term technology
In the bridge phase, conventional blast furnaces are gradually replaced by EAFs that melt steel scrap and Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) produced at voestalpine's Corpus Christi plant in Texas (commissioned in 2016). Long-term, HBI from natural gas will be replaced by direct reduced iron using green hydrogen, which is the only known pathway to near-zero-carbon primary steel at industrial scale. Most affected operations sit in the Steel Division and the Metal Engineering Division.