India is striving to build an ecosystem for green steel in the country. In that line, Union Minister of Steel Jyotiraditya M. Scindia held a meeting on September 28 with the government’s five task forces dedicated to enabling the ecosystem for green steel in India.
The meeting witnessed discussions with key stakeholders, industry experts, and government officials who are striving to achieve the country’s vision of achieving sustainability and decarbonisation in steel production.
Giving an insight into the meeting, Minister Scindia said, “Defined a roadmap to tackle inevitable challenges through a multi-pronged approach, including renewable energy uptake, skill development, incentives, and potential pathways for decarbonisation.”
The Ministry informed that the task force on Finance highlighted financing options for decarbonising the Indian steel industry. In addition, the Renewable Energy Transition task force examined the integration of renewable energy in the steel industry and proposed policy drivers to incentivize the adoption of renewable power and measures to attract industries to set up captive renewable power facilities.
Further, the Skill Development Task Force identified the skilling, upskilling, and reskilling of the manpower in the steel industry to ensure a just transition. Their recommendations emphasised the need to create and empower educational institutions to meet the industry’s evolving skill demands, particularly in the secondary steel sector.
The Task Force on Energy Efficiency gave recommendations for boosting energy efficiency solutions for both integrated steel plants and secondary steel industries. Process Transition Task Force highlighted promoting the use of natural gas and syngas in Direct Reduced Iron plants, which aims to reduce carbon emissions from these facilities by moving away from coal-based feedstock.
The Ministry of Steel constituted 13 task forces consisting of people from industry, academia, think tanks, S&T bodies, different ministries, and other stakeholders to discuss, deliberate, and recommend the decarbonisation of the steel sector and promote green steel production.