Valentin Vogl has a new article published today in Joule, co-authored with Olle Olsson and Björn Nykvist from Stockholm Environment Institute. In the paper titled ‘Phasing out the blast furnace to meet global climate targets’, the authors show how a shift from the emission-intensive and fossil fuel-reliant blast furnace towards more recycling, reduced use and steel production with renewable energy can happen much quicker than previously thought. Such a shift, however, requires rapid action from policy makers to advance the deployment of renewables, material efficiency policies and technology development. If the next opportunity to move away from unmitigated blast furnaces is missed, the steel sector risks to double its current share of global CO2 emissions. 

The paper was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) through the HYBRIT RP1 project. 

Article on the website of Joule

Press release on Lund University's website (in Swedish)