Insights from the steel sector decarbonization road-map workshop in India.

Demand for steel is expected to increase as population growth, industrialization and urbanization in emerging economies continues. India is currently the world’s second-largest steel producer, and third-largest steel consumer. According to The Energy Resource Institute’s analysis, crude steel capacity in the country will increase from a current level of 142 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 245 MTPA by 2030 and 528 MTPA by 2050. However, this growth will have significant energy, environmental, resource and economic consequences. It is, therefore, vital to discuss the pathways to decarbonize the steel sector to ensure that India stays on track to meet its emissions targets while ensuring socio-economic well-being.

One approach to build momentum and overcome inertia around transition is using road maps, which provide a predetermined goal or target associated with a desirable future and which set out possible pathways, strategic plans, actions, and policies required for reaching that point. Underscoring the need for definitive road maps to decarbonize the steel sector in India – one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases – stakeholders, industry representatives and experts participated in a hybrid road-map workshop organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the LeadIT Secretariat, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and the Strategic Partnership for the Implementation of Paris Agreement (SPIPA) project implemented by GIZ and the EU. The workshop took place in New Delhi on 12 April 2022. This brief offers key sectoral insights and policy recommendations that emerged from this co-creation workshop.