voestalpine joins the Science Based Targets initiative
August 3, 2022
The voestalpine Group has announced that it is setting goals to reduce emissions in Scope 2 (energy-related) and Scope 3 (raw materials, transport, etc). These reductions will be stylistically evaluated within the framework of the independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to ensure the Group’s targets are compatible with the Paris goals and validated correspondingly.
“We have decided to subject ourselves to examination by the Science Based Targets initiative to offer our stakeholders the greatest possible levels of transparency and comparability when it comes to our climate action measures,” stated Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO. “The complex process of monitoring and goal setting along the entire process chain highlights our commitment to achieving climate neutrality over the long term.”
The objectives apply not only to the steel-producing sites in Linz and Donawitz, Austria, but the entire voestalpine Group. Specifically, and taking the year 2019 as its reference, the company plans a 30% reduction in Scope 1 (direct greenhouse gas emissions from production) and 2 emissions and a 25% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2029.
The Science Based Targets initiative is a partnership between the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). It helps companies align their business activities with the Paris Climate Goals, and provides scientific proof of this achievement. Globally, around 3,000 companies from a wide range of sectors including the steel industry are involved in the SBTi.
greentec steel is voestalpine’s phased plan for green steel production: in a first intermediate step, partial replacement of the existing blast furnace route with a hybrid-electric steel pathway could reduce carbon emissions by around 30% from 2027, corresponding to around 3 to 4 million tons of CO2 annually. In 2027, voestalpine will begin operating one electric arc furnace at each of the Linz and Donawitz sites; the necessary preparations are already underway.
voestalpine’s mission is carbon-neutral steel production using green hydrogen by 2050, for which the Group is already undertaking research into promising breakthrough technologies.
