Blog: worldsteel at COP28
The UN’s Climate Conference, or the 28th Conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change, COP28, took place in Dubai, UAE from 30th November to 13th December.
Announcements
For the first time, worldsteel were an integral part of two important announcements at COP and our participation in these initiatives underscores our commitment and leadership in promoting environmental sustainability within the steel industry. The collective efforts within these initiatives are pivotal in driving the industry’s transition towards a more sustainable, inclusive and climate-friendly future.The ITA aims to accelerate delivery of Paris-aligned ambition across heavy industry, transport, and energy sectors to keep 1.5 degrees warming in reach. It was on the 2nd December and was then further discussed at a on 5th December. Åsa, now part of the ITA Leadership Council for worldsteel, emphasised the benefit of the cross-sectoral approach of ITA, bringing together different industries as well as technology development, finance, and low-carbon energy availability and infrastructure. We will be taking an active role in defining the detailed programme of work for the steel sector.
ITA is co-led by Dr. Sultan Al-Jaber (COP28 President), Mike Bloomberg (UN Climate Envoy), Mark Carney (UN Climate Envoy) and Simon Stiell (Executive Secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). It is backed by $30M from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the COP28 Presidency.Speaking engagements
An important part of COP for us is to support steel industry events organised by members as well as to provide the steel industry perspective in events organised by the different initiatives and those in our ecosystem. Some of the events that we participated in this year are listed below:“Shedding Light on Carbon Emissions for Steel Production”
A panel discussion with both Clare and Åsa on the challenges and ways forward for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a low carbon steel industry, organised by worldsteel member at the Egypt Pavilion. The conversation included in-depth discussions on carbon emissions measurements, sustainability reporting frameworks, and the need for their unification. The panel also highlighted the need for customer awareness of climate action and the use of green materials, emphasising the importance of women’s inclusivity in the industry.“Forging a Carbon-Free Future: The Indian Steel Sector’s Transition”
Åsa was part of the panel at an event hosted by CEEW and India’s Ministry of Steel on the topic of in the India Pavilion. The transition will look different in different parts of the world, and it’s essential to allow companies to choose the best technologies for their local circumstances. Considering India’s planned capacity increases and the current unavailability of near-zero breakthrough technologies, research into existing technologies is of utmost importance to enable substantial reductions from steel production in the short term.- BCG COP28 Flagship event “From Pledges to Action: Making Net Zero Happen”
Åsa participated in the panel discussion which focused on how finance, energy and infrastructure requirements are all needed to enable the transition for the steel industry. - Clare spoke at an IAEA event, Nuclear energy . It’s important in the discussions on energy availability to not just talk about renewable energy as the ‘green’ energy supplies, but to really look at all low carbon emission energy sources – we’re going to need all the help we can get in making this transition, and it’s not a one size fits all solution for the global steel industry.
- POSCO and POSRI held an event at the Korean Pavilion, which brought together different players in the supply chain, with a particular focus on the importance and relevance of scope 3 emissions. Clare moderated the session where the Korean Energy Economics Institute spoke about progress with the negotiations and steel producers JFE, Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal shared their views on what their companies are doing to account for and reduce their own emissions and in their supply chain.
- We participated in The Steel Breakthrough Roundtable as well as the newly launched Buildings Breakthrough Roundtable – it’s important for us to track what is going on in these initiatives, provide the voice of the global steel industry and provide leadership, particularly in the development of methodologies for GHG emissions accounting. has set ambitious goals for 2030 to dramatically accelerate the innovation and deployment of clean technologies in five key sectors of the economy – Power, Road Transport, Steel, Hydrogen, and Agriculture.
A couple of other key announcements that are relevant for us include the following:
- The ) and the held an event on 5th December on the topic of “Accelerating green demand of heavy emitting sectors (Steel, Cement and Aluminium)”. During the event all pledged to all four levels of IDDI’s Public Procurement Pledge, which aims at driving demand for low-carbon steel, cement and concrete.
- The was officially launched on December 1st. The Club is an inclusive and ambitious high-level intergovernmental forum for industry decarbonisation, co-led by Germany and Chile. The club currently has 36 government members and the secretariat is hosted by IEA and OECD. An also took place. The club will focus on steel and cement. More detail is available on the where you can also find the work programme for the coming year.