CSA major source of CO2 emissions in Rio de Janeiro

SBB 14 November Companhia Siderúrgica do Atlântico (CSA) – the new Brazilian slab plant owned by ThyssenKrupp and Vale – is being blamed for a large rise in carbon emissions in Rio de Janeiro, Steel Business Briefing learns from local environmental authorities.

From June 2010 to June 2011, city chiefs estimate 5.7m tonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere by CSA’s activities, half the city’s total 11.35m t of CO2 emissions in 2005.

Rio de Janeiro aims to reduce CO2 emissions 8% (from 2005’s CO2 total) by 2012 and the policy on climate change and sustainable development requires emissions to be cut 16% in 2016 and 20% by 2020.

Authorities have yet to decide whether to penalize CSA or if the company can receive its definitive operating license. To date, the mill has functioned with a pre-operation license that expires in September 2012, SBB notes.

Carbon leakage is a threat to Europe, says TK executive

The move towards pricing carbon dioxde emissions has caused concern that the competetiveness of the industrycould be reduced. These concerns have been further excacerbated by reports in the mainstream media that claim the industrywill profit fromthe ETS.

SBB 18 April So long as it is only in the EU that the steel industry needs to buy emission allowances, carbon leakage will remain an issue for the industry, Dr. Hans-Jörn Weddige of ThyssenKrupp told Steel Business Briefing’s recent Green Steel Strategies conference in Brussels.

The sector is expected to be 19.8% short of permits in phase 3, according to Eurofer, assuming the European Union continues to target a 20% cut in emissions by 2020, compared with 2005. It is a myth to view steel producers as having a huge allowance surplus from the 2008/9 crisis as quoted numbers often omit waste gas emissions and can be very misleading, he added. This assessment was supported by financial analysts at the conference.

Moreover, steel is essential for a CO2-lean European Union. The view that Europe needs to move from brown to green industries is also a myth: the issue is to promote a sustainable industry more generally, and for that steel is central. “It is the brown trunk that gives the green tree its competitive advantage,” Weddige commented.

He also argued against the view that technology options can “easily” save the day. They are still decades from commercial realisation. Governments need to provide a predictable, long-term framework for R&D and investment to speed up the process. Paying more for allowances will decrease the financial capacity for innovation of steel companies, Weddige pointed out.

The EU’s carbon market should focus on effectively allocating allowances – it should not be seen “as money making machines for speculators.” The “market needs time and stability” to work efficiently.

Steel companies say carbon credit ‘surplus’ claims unfair

This report from Carbon Market Data seems to ignore last year’s recession as well as the waste gas recycling issue. Steel production fell massively, and is now picking up again.

SBB 11 June 2010 Figures suggesting European steelmakers have received surplus carbon credits are unrepresentative, Eurofer tells Steel Business Briefing. ArcelorMittal, Corus and ThyssenKrupp received the most unused carbon credits under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2009 according to a Carbon Market Data report.

In phase II (2008-2012) of the ETS, steel companies receive free EUAs. Plummeting steel production in 2009 meant that allowances were more than sufficient to account for carbon dioxide emissions.

ArcelorMittal received 43 million European Union Allowances (EUAs) in 2009, which it did not redeem. At a price of €15.6 ($18.8) per credit (see related article) these have a market value of around €670.4m. Corus received 13m unused EUAs while ThyssenKrupp received 11m.

However, a ‘huge part’ of the unused credits are due to the recycling of waste gases, Eurofer spokesman, Axel Eggert, tells SBB. Some steel mills capture waste gases for use in power generation and some steel plants give EUAs to associated power plants to cover emissions generated by the process. These EUAs appear as unused in the report, although they are no longer held by the steel plants. One major steel producer says up to half of his ‘surplus’ EUAs in 2009 were actually held by power plants.

The producer also said it ‘made no sense to tax best-practice’, arguing that Europe’s steelmakers are among the greenest. ArcelorMittal has plans to cut CO2 emissions per tonne of steel by 8% by 2020, while Corus says it will emit less than 1.7 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel by 2012, SBB notes.

EU lists two steelworks in carbon emissions top 30 in 2009

The five largest EU steel mills in terms of CO2 emissions in 2009 include ArcelorMittal Dunkerque, ThyssenKrupp Steel in Duisburg, Corus Staal in IJmuiden and Teesside Integrated I&S (TCP), and ILVA Taranto. These are also most likely last year’s five largest integrated producers of crude steel in Europe. The companies themselves don’t give plant by plant production numbers, but it can be estimated that Dunkirk made around 4.6m t of crude steel in 2009 @ a CO2 intensity of 2t CO2/t crude steel, and similar rough calculations can be made for the other plants.

SBB 9 April Two steelworks are on the European Commission’s list of the 30 largest carbon dioxide emitters in the European Union last year, Steel Business Briefing has learnt from preliminary data recently published.

ArcelorMittal Dunkirk was No.15 on the list with 9.2m t of carbon dioxide emissions in 2009. ThyssenKrupp Duisburg was at No. 26 with 6.6m t of CO2 emitted.

Both plants ended the year with a surplus of carbon credits. ArcelorMittal Dunkirk was allocated 11.7m European Union Allowances (EUAs), each with a value of one tonne of CO2. This was 2.5m more than the amount of CO2 actually emitted. ThyssenKrupp Duisburg received 19.6m EUAs, 13m more than were necessary to cover its emissions, the Commission data show.

Corus Staal in the Netherlands, Teesside Integrated Iron & Steel in the UK and Italy’s Ilva Taranto just missed inclusion in the top 30, according to SBB’s own analysis of the data. Each had CO2 emissions of over 5m t in 2009. And all three had a surplus of EUAs.

Other companies with plants among the largest CO2 emitters in the sector include Salzgitter and Dillinger. On average, an integrated steelworks emits almost two tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of crude steel produced.