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Crafting greener steel is crucial to achieving the decarbonization necessary to meet global targets aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate change, but many challenges lie ahead.
Steel is an emissions-intensive material used in a broad array of products. Producers are under rising pressure to lower their environmental footprints as investors increasingly focus on environmental, social and governance issues.
Major steel companies worldwide have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, including Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, Japanese producer Nippon Steel Corp., South Korean company POSCO, and China Baowu Steel Group Corp. Ltd.
World Steel Association data from 2019 shows that ArcelorMittal is the largest steel producer in the world. It also produces the most greenhouse gas emissions in the sector, according to data from Trucost.