Australian PM touts green steel miners to meet with Chinese steel manufacturers
Lewis Jackson and Melanie Burton
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in Shanghai on Monday that Shanghai (Reuters) – Australia and China should work more closely with green steel.
According to the latest government estimates, China relies on Australia to consume about two-thirds of the iron ore with its massive steel industry, which will win Canberra’s $105 billion ($689 billion) in the fiscal year.
But trying to clean up industries responsible for emissions about one-tenth of all emissions puts Australia’s trade at risk, as decarbonization requires higher grades of iron ore, found in countries such as Guinea and Brazil.
Green steel refers to metals produced using renewable energy sources, such as hydrogen, to limit or eliminate coal use and cut carbon emissions.
Albanese Frame Green Steel addressed ahead of a meeting between Australian iron ore miners and Chinese steel manufacturers as a way to develop decades of trade relations between Australia and China.
“Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require decarbonization, bringing opportunities for Australia and China to advance our long-term economic benefits,” he said.
Albanes also proposed to work with China to reduce production capacity in its steel industry, which exacerbated record exports, which in turn triggered a wave of tariffs and tariffs from trading partners such as Vietnam and South Korea.
If Australia fails to start producing green iron, a specialized lower emission product, Australia could lose half of its revenue from the industry, as other countries start using renewable energy to make steel.
The report recommends that successful establishment of the green iron industry can double these revenues.
Australian iron ore is too low to be processed directly into green steel, so additional processing steps are required. When this step is performed using renewable energy sources such as hydrogen or biomass instead of coal, it is called green iron, which becomes the low-carbon basis for green steel production.
Top iron ore miners Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue also attended the meeting, all of whom are working on the green iron project, which will produce green iron from a flying employee plant this year.
Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue, said in China and Albanese that the relationship established between Chinese steel manufacturers and Australian miners strengthened the bond between the two countries, and security issues were “distractions”.
