Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), the world’s leading clean energy company, and Emsteel Group, the largest listed steel and building materials company in the UAE, have announced the successful completion of the development of a pilot project to produce sustainable steel using green hydrogen.
The pilot project in Abu Dhabi is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region to use green hydrogen to reduce iron ore, a key step in the steel production process. The pilot project is now fully operational and has successfully started producing sustainable steel.
The green hydrogen produced by the project has been certified by AVANSE Laboratories, an accredited body by the International Organization for Standardization, in accordance with the recently issued ISO 19870 hydrogen specification. The certification data has also been verified by Bureau Veritas, an independent third-party testing, inspection and certification service provider.
Steel production is one of the most important industries in the UAE, but it is considered an emission-intensive sector that is difficult to reduce, as the steel industry contributes between 7 and 8 percent of global carbon emissions, and reducing carbon emissions in this sector is a key path towards achieving climate neutrality in the future.
The rising global demand for sustainable green steel represents an opportunity to enhance the growth of the UAE steel sector, as the country aspires to be a major hub for sustainable steel production. The “Green Certificates” initiative, launched by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure last July, supports the use of sustainable building materials, including iron and steel.
The partnership between Masdar and Emsteel underscores the important role of green hydrogen in decarbonizing various stages of the global steel production value chain, and reflects the keenness of the clean energy and heavy industries sectors in the UAE to cooperate to take urgent measures that contribute to accelerating the pace of energy transformation.
“This project is the culmination of our partnership with Emsteel Group, which has resulted in an innovative solution for sustainable steel production using green hydrogen,” said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar. “Decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors is a vital and important factor in supporting the UAE’s historic agreement reached at COP28, and green hydrogen is a key pillar supporting local and global efforts to achieve climate neutrality goals, and we are proud to play a leading role in this area.” “We are committed to continuing our role in supporting the decarbonization of the steel sector in line with the UAE’s strategy for climate neutrality by 2050. Our efforts have yielded fruitful results, with our reliance on clean energy sources increasing to more than 80 percent by 2023. The group is also the first steelmaker in the world to capture its carbon emissions, with its operations’ emissions being 45 percent lower than the global average. Our partnership with Masdar is an important step in our joint efforts to decarbonize this difficult-to-abate sector and its entire supply chain,” said Eng. Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of Emsteel Group. This pilot project is in line with Abu Dhabi’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Policy, which is expected to play a major role in promoting low-carbon hydrogen technology as a clean energy source in the future, which represents a qualitative leap towards ensuring economic growth, enhancing sustainability and energy security, and is a strategic step towards building a sustainable future. This policy is in line with the UAE National Hydrogen Strategy, which aims to establish the country as a leading global producer of low-emission hydrogen by 2031.
Masdar was established in 2006 to play a major role in consolidating the UAE’s global leadership in sustainability and climate action. Masdar develops projects and has investment partnerships in more than 40 countries around the world, with aspirations to enhance the production capacity of its renewable energy portfolio to reach 100 gigawatts by 2030. The company also aims to produce one million tons of green hydrogen or its derivatives annually from its projects in the country and around the world within a decade.
The Emstel Group, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has a great legacy spanning more than a quarter of a century. The group is committed to providing products, services and solutions that contribute to building a better world, and supports global efforts to enhance sustainability by building a low-carbon supply chain in cooperation with its partners.
