Meeting the Greenhouse Gas and Energy Challenge
Steel is a vital component in almost every part of the built and manufactured environment - from cars, to office buildings, houses, bridges, industrial equipment and home appliances.
Carbon is an essential ingredient in the chemistry of steelmaking. An increased concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere is said by many experts to contribute to the phenomenon of global warming.
BlueScope Steel recognises that global warming is a serious community concern that requires a global response. We are conscious of the need to do our part in helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Given the role of carbon in steelmaking, new technology will be vital in helping meet the greenhouse and energy challenge. That's why BlueScope Steel supports the Asia - Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate ('AP6') and the International Iron & Steel Institute's CO2 Breakthrough Project. These programs are aimed at developing new technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
One project being considered by the Company in Australia is a cogeneration plant at our Port Kembla Steelworks. A cogeneration plant would use by-product gases that are currently flared, to generate electricity, and has the potential to save around 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
BlueScope Steel will continue to seek opportunities to improve productivity and energy efficiency in order to reduce the greenhouse intensity of the steel it makes.
At BlueScope Steel’s two principal steelmaking sites in Australia and New Zealand – Port Kembla Steelworks and New Zealand Steel – a Greenhouse Gas and Energy Policy has been deployed.
