Sustainable and responsible action
We assume responsibility – for our employees, customers, public authorities, society, our neighborhood and the environment. Our understanding of sustainability is based on the classic overall concept of the United Nations: It is important to meet the requirements of the present generation without compromising the opportunities of future generations to fulfill their own requirements.
Sustainability is firmly embedded in the Group strategy. We consider sustainability to be a key driver of innovation and a continuous process for improving the economic, ecological and social performance of the company. Sustainable and responsible business operations are an integral part of our corporate culture and everyday practice. By having our climate targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), we reaffirm our commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain, thereby making a decisive contribution to global climate protection.
#nextgenerationsteel:
Paving the way to a carbon-neutral Europe
The lights are set to green for the future of steel in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and Europe: thanks to funding from the federal and state governments for thyssenkrupp Steel's tkH2Steel® project at the Duisburg site, a pioneering transformation is becoming reality: the production of premium steel with green electricity and hydrogen in the direct reduction plant – and no longer in the coal-fired blast furnace. This is a major breakthrough for climate change mitigation, for our company and the workforce, as well as for the entire region and the supporters of the project in federal and state politics.
Sustainable steel – leading the way for customers and the climate
One of the largest CO2 emitters, which still accounts for 2.5 percent of emissions in Germany, is becoming a pioneer of sustainable value creation in Europe. Electric mobility, the energy turnaround, the mobility revolution, the packaging industry and many other sectors – they all need steel as a basic material not only in the highest quality, but also with the smallest possible carbon footprint.
This is exactly what thyssenkrupp Steel will be supplying within just a few years, with a technologically unique plant configuration: tkH2Steel®. Each ton of green hydrogen will then save 28 tons of CO2. However, we do not skimp on quality: thyssenkrupp Steel will continue to be able to offer all proven grades without restrictions, for example our electrical steel for the energy and mobility revolution.
Sustainable steel – for Germany's independence and economic might
The innovative heart of the turnaround in steelmaking is the combination of a hydrogen-powered direct reduction plant with two electric melters. The next generation of steel will become a reality with the commissioning of the direct reduction plant from 2027 onward, followed by the next steps towards climate neutrality by 2045 at the latest. The generation change will be carried out by thyssenkrupp Steel during ongoing steelmaking operations and at the existing Duisburg site.
In this way, we are strengthening Germany as an industrial location and securing attractive jobs in the region – 26,000 directly in the company and 150,000 in downstream industries in North Rhine-Westphalia. Nationwide, as many as four million jobs need to be preserved in steel-intensive industries. Decarbonized steel is the foundation of industrial value creation that secures growth and jobs. In this way, CO2-reduced steel reconciles climate change mitigation, prosperity and economic resilience.
Sustainable steel – driving the hydrogen economy
As a major consumer of green electricity and hydrogen, thyssenkrupp Steel is also a pioneer of the green energy infrastructure of the future. Alone the first direct reduction plant, with its capacity of 2.5 million metric tons of direct reduced iron (DRI), will need almost 400 metric tons of hydrogen every day – equivalent to filling the gasometer in Oberhausen full to the brim twelve times over.
The hydrogen and green electricity ramp-up is linked to the expectation of further industrial jobs beyond steel with a secure future. A perspective that underlines the importance of the project and for which thyssenkrupp Steel accepts responsibility. The #nextgenerationsteel has its home on the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, but it thinks and acts as part of Europe.
