GMH-Gruppe welcomes the introduction of the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS) as the first step on the way to green lead markets.
The standardized classification of the climate impact of steel produced in various processes in Germany is an important step on the way to green lead markets in the basic materials industry. LESS is also an important instrument that specifies the procurement of green steel in public procurement. Georgsmarienhütte GmbH intends to be one of the first steel manufacturers to undergo LESS labeling.
Industry, science and politics have agreed on a procedure for classifying climate-friendly (“green”) steel. The aim is to ensure comparability of the decarbonization efforts of different steel manufacturers and production routes. The LESS standard is designed to be open and geared towards cross-industry and international cooperation. It therefore provides the basis for cross-industry measurement and pricing of climate-friendly production within the framework of green lead markets for the basic materials industry.
In future, the LESS label will enable manufacturers to prove whether their steel can be assigned to a green classification, what product carbon footprint (PCF) it has and how much scrap it was produced with. The PCF is a quantitative indicator that shows how many greenhouse gases were emitted into the atmosphere during steel production and the upstream production processes, such as electricity generation or the production of alloying agents.
Georgsmarienhütte GmbH has been reporting the PCF since 2023 at the request of customers and, as part of its own transformation strategy, has already saved 80 percent of CO2 emissions with scrap-based steel production in electric arc furnaces compared to the production of crude steel using the traditional blast furnace route (with regard to Scope 1 and 2). Steel from scrap can cover around 30 percent of demand in Germany.
The methodology used by Georgsmarienhütte to calculate the product carbon footprint has been validated by TÜV SÜD and is applied to more than a thousand steel variants. The company aims to be completely climate-neutral by 2039. In this context, GMH-Gruppe expressly supports the new LESS initiative, which was presented by the German Steel Federation at the Hanover Trade Fair and is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).
Dr. Anne-Marie Großmann, member of the Management Board and shareholder of GMH-Gruppe, explained: “We welcome LESS, which standardizes the various certifications for climate-friendly steel. The LESS label gives our customers the certainty that they are actually buying low-CO2 steel and can therefore declare their own product as CO2-reduced. Standardization is an important step towards greater transparency in demonstrating the steel industry’s progress on the path to transformation. LESS is also an essential building block for the introduction of green lead markets for climate-friendly raw materials in Europe. The comparability of differently manufactured materials and products through standardized and independent climate ratings such as LESS create the prerequisites for a fair assessment and pricing in line with climate targets. The next step will depend on whether and how quickly the public sector also aligns its procurement with LESS. I am convinced that a corresponding positioning of state-owned companies will significantly accelerate the acceptance of the Low Emission Steel Standard.”
LESS evaluates both the transformation process in steel production on the conventional blast furnace route in the transition to low-CO2 production processes based on hydrogen (direct reduction) and the already carbon-reduced electric arc production based on scrap.
Georgsmarienhütte GmbH, the largest steel producer in the GMH Group, intends to be one of the first companies in Germany to take part in the LESS pre-validation test run in the second half of 2024.
Georgsmarienhütte
GMH-Gruppe is a full-range supplier of steel as a primary material, melted from scrap, through to ready-to-assemble components. It is one of the largest privately owned metalworking companies in Europe. The group includes 20 medium-sized production companies in the steel, forging and casting industries, which are represented in more than 50 countries. With around 6,000 employees, the GMH Group generates annual sales of around two billion euros.
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www.gmh.de