Wu Hao, Cheng Jiong, Zhong Heng, Jin Fangming
China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 3 Yinlian Road, Shanghai, 201306, China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2025 Feb;32(8):4445-4471. doi: 10.1007/s11356-025-36038-7. Epub 2025 Feb 4.
The iron and steel industry is widely acknowledged as a carbon-intensive sector, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. As the global demand and production of iron and steel continue to rise, the early implementation of low-carbon and zero-carbon strategies to expedite the decarbonization processes in the iron and steel industry is paramount for achieving the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s 2 ℃ climate goal. This article provides a comparative evaluation of recent low-carbon and zero-carbon strategies applied in the iron and steel industry, focusing on the fossil carbon reduction, end carbon utilization, auxiliary strategies, and international supply chain relocation. It delves into the practical manifestations, untapped possibilities, and prevailing challenges associated with these strategies' industrial implementation. Furthermore, it assesses and compares the current carbon-saving potential of the strategies within the global iron and steel industry. The results show that, despite a large industrial scale, low-carbon strategies in iron and steel have a limited emission reduction capacity of up to 55%. While zero-carbon strategies offer higher potential (95-100% reduction), they are still nascent and not widely used. Meeting the IPCC's 2 ℃ target by 2050 with current strategies alone is challenging. Hence, scaling up zero-carbon strategies quickly and expanding low-carbon ones in the long run are critical for iron and steel's carbon neutrality.
钢铁行业被广泛认为是一个碳密集型行业，对温室气体排放有重大贡献。随着全球钢铁需求和产量持续增长，尽早实施低碳和零碳战略以加速钢铁行业的脱碳进程，对于实现政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）的2℃气候目标至关重要。本文对钢铁行业近期应用的低碳和零碳战略进行了比较评估，重点关注化石碳减排、终端碳利用、辅助战略以及国际供应链转移。文章深入探讨了这些战略在工业实施中的实际表现、未开发的潜力以及普遍存在的挑战。此外，还评估和比较了这些战略在全球钢铁行业内当前的碳节约潜力。结果表明，尽管钢铁行业规模庞大，但其低碳战略的减排能力有限，最高可达55%。虽然零碳战略具有更高的潜力（减排95%-100%），但它们仍处于初期阶段，尚未广泛应用。仅靠当前战略在2050年实现IPCC的2℃目标具有挑战性。因此，迅速扩大零碳战略并长期扩展低碳战略对于钢铁行业的碳中和至关重要。
