Leadership Stories

Tata Steel in Europe

Tata Steel in Europe has the ambition of making CO2 neutral steel by 2050 at the latest. In the Netherlands, Tata Steel is committed to reducing CO2 emissions between 30-40% by 2030. Tata Steel has announced plans to pursue a fully sustainable future for its steelworks in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, by adopting a hydrogen route. This involves the introduction of direct reduced iron (DRI) technology which can make iron using natural gas or hydrogen, which is then converted to steel in one or more electric furnaces to be invested in the future.

As an infinitely recyclable material, steel is a key driver in the push for global decarbonisation. Tata Steel’s sustainability strategy is closely aligned with the United Nations’ Key Sustainable Development Goals. It focuses on three pillars:

1) Being a responsible steel supplier
Tata Steel is committed to ensuring its raw materials are sourced from responsible supply chains and in accordance with sustainable business practices.

2) Leading in carbon neutral steelmaking​
An innovator in carbon neutral steelmaking, Tata Steel is committed to transforming the way sustainable steel is produced, whilst ensuring a safe and healthy work environment and local environment. 

3) Enabling customers to become more sustainable​
Tata Steel’s customers can rely on sustainable solutions and expertise to help them improve the sustainability of their own value chains and create the sustainable products which society needs.

“Sustainability is a systems challenge, and that is why we have put collaboration at the heart of our Zero Carbon Logistics framework”

Peter Suasso de Lima de Prado
Tata Steel Europe’s Outbound Logistics Department

“We partner with customers, suppliers and knowledge centres like Smart Freight Centre to achieve our own emission reduction targets, but also to help others achieve theirs.”

Wenyi Chen
Logistics Analyst Network Development & Management at Tata Steel

Report and set targets

  • The first steel company in the world to adopt the GLEC Framework in 2020, Tata Steel calculates and reports emissions in alignment with the globally recognised methodology for harmonised calculation and reporting of GHG emissions.
  • Tata Steel’s emission factors library is calibrated where possible with actual emissions and was developed in close collaboration with its Product Sustainability team. The factors are modelled in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software. Updates to its library follow strict governance:
    • Tools allow Tata Steel to quickly, reliably and accurately provide reports on logistics emissions to customers
    • Zero carbon logistics is very much data driven. The emissions factors library forms the solid foundation of the program
    • The library also drives dashboards which are used to identify emissions hotspots on customer, regional and modality level.
  • Target is to reduce absolute logistics emissions by 30% by 2030 (against 2019 baseline) and to be CO2 neutral by 2050.
  • As Tata Steel does not control where customers want to have their steel delivered, it also measures relative emissions (kg CO2e per ton kilometre) for all modalities.

Reduce

  • Reduced its logistics emissions by 5% (against 2019 baseline). More than 25 active eco-efficiency projects are delivering both structural emission reductions and financial savings.
  • Focus on modal shift to cleaner modalities has led to 5,000 fewer truck moves per year through the communities around its Ijmuiden site.
  • Partners in the INTERREG H2Ships project, where together with Delft University, its barge partner PTC, H2Fuels and the Port of Amsterdam, Tata Steel work on solid hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Collaborate

  • Zero Carbon Logistics won Worldsteel’s 2021 Steelie award in the category “Excellence in Sustainability”
  • Collaboration is at the centre of Zero carbon Logistics. Tata Steel Outbound Logistics collaborates with colleagues, customers, suppliers and knowledge centre like Kühne Logistics University where it participates in webinars for Logistics Sustainability students.
  • Collaboration with its rail service provider in the UK to lobby for permission to use longer trains on certain routes. This was followed by a successful HVO (biofuel) pilot.
  • Collaboration with a customer in the East of the Netherlands and a logistics service provider led to significant reduction in empty miles and improved payloads. In a second phase of the project a successful HVO (biofuel that reduces CO2 emissions by 90%) pilot took place.

References

H2SHIPS - System-Based Solutions for H2-Fuelled Water Transport in North-West Europe | Interreg NWE (nweurope.eu)

Independent study by FNV and Tata Steel: green steel production feasible

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel is one of Europe’s leading steel producers, with steelmaking in the Netherlands and the UK, and manufacturing plants across Europe. The company makes high-quality strip steel products for demanding markets such as construction, automotive, packaging and engineering.

Tata Steel Netherlands has a total 11,000 people, divided into:

  • Tata Steel IJmuiden 9,000 people
  • Tata Steel Downstream 2,000 people (different countries in Europe like Germany, France, NL, Spain, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway).
  • Tata Steel UK (and Downstream Operations) : 7,000 people
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