British Steel unveils £1.25B decarbonization plan to install electric arc furnaces at Scunthorpe and Teesside facilities pending UK Government support

December 6, 2023 (press release) –

 

06 Dec 2023

 

This week we have been staging public consultation planning events about our proposed decarbonisation programme.

In November we unveiled plans for the biggest transformation in our history – a £1.25-billion proposal to become a clean, green and sustainable business by adopting electric arc furnace steelmaking.

Following detailed analysis of our current operations, available technology and challenging market conditions, we are proposing to accelerate our decarbonisation programme.

The proposals, which are subject to appropriate support from the UK Government, could see British Steel install 2 electric arc furnaces (EAFs) – the first at our headquarters in Scunthorpe, the second at our manufacturing site in Teesside. The company proposes maintaining current operations until a transition to electric arc steelmaking.

British Steel has started preliminary talks with trade unions about electrification, and has promised to support employees affected by the decarbonisation plans. We have agreed for our proposals to be reviewed by an external specialist on behalf of the trade unions.

We are also working with North Lincolnshire Council on a masterplan to attract new businesses and jobs to the Scunthorpe site, parts of which could become vacant if the proposals go ahead.

We unveiled our Low-Carbon Roadmap in October 2021, pledging to invest in a range of technologies to deliver net-zero steel by 2050, and significantly reduce our CO₂ intensity by 2030 and 2035. However, we are now proposing to accelerate our decarbonisation journey with the potential new operating structure able to reduce our CO₂ intensity by around 75 per cent.

You can see the slides from the public events here: british-steel-proposals.pdf (britishsteel.co.uk)

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