Overview
Green iron and steel is a potentially large business and economic opportunity in Australia. A better understanding is needed about the nature and magnitude of Australia’s opportunity and preconditions for the establishment of a green iron and steel industry. Aside from technological issues, there is limited understanding of economic and market aspects of a future green iron and steel industry, including the potential future market size, its competitiveness with conventional steel, how large an effect climate change policies including carbon pricing might have, and possible trajectories over time for green iron and steel globally and in Australia under different scenarios for global decarbonisation.
Project Details
This project will shed light on market, cost and locational factors for a green iron and steel industry in Australia, using a variety of approaches including systematic review of literature, industrial reports and national strategies, techno-economic assessment of technologies, modelling and scenario compilation, expert elicitation, and analysis of policy and market mechanisms.
It will also improve understanding about possible magnitude and location of a global green iron and steel industry in competition with traditional blast furnace production.
Planned outcomes
- Improve understanding of the green steel market outlook, on which company strategy and investment decisions can be built.
- Provide governments and policymakers with better understanding of viable leverage points to improve preconditions for an Australian green iron and steel industry.
- Develop an agenda for future research within HILT CRC, as well as lay the data and methodological basis for subsequent modelling projects.
Research Areas
Market assessment of green iron and steel
Outcomes
Key findings include:
- Markets for green iron are expected in Japan, South Korea and China, but are less well defined for green steel.
- Competition is expected from Brazil, the Middle East, Africa and China in the green iron market, and from China, South Korea and Japan for green steel.
- Sufficient carbon pricing mechanisms will be needed to drive demand, coupled with carbon boarder adjustments to foster import demand.
- Australia generates 4Mt/yr high-quality scrap, which would support electric arc furnaces, but exports of scrap would need to reduce.
- Analysis of potential policy mechanisms assessed reduction in investment risk, who pays for green iron support measures, and analyses attributes and effects of a wide range of supply- and demand-side policy support mechanisms.
Project Summary
RP3.005 Project Summary – Market, cost and locational factors for green iron and steel in Australia
Case study
