Authors
Scharpenberg, Christina; Dumeier, Marcel; Zacharopoulos, Leon; Sprecher, Marten; Geldermann, Jutta; Janz, Andreas
Abstract
Due to its high energy consumption, the steel industry is one of Germany’s largest carbon dioxide emitters. Steel is an important product for the German construction and automotive industry and has a significant impact on the lifecycle-emissions of the products in these industries. Within the scope of a research project, a product carbon footprint (PCF) for a major German steel producer was conducted using the Umberto software in accordance with the ISO 14067 Norm. Our goal is to show the challenges of conducting a PCF in this context, and to demonstrate which process stages of steel production are responsible for the most carbon dioxide emissions. Among other things, our findings aid in the identification of climate change mitigation potentials for the steel producer. The PCF is a common method to identify the contributors to the total carbon dioxide emissions of one product over its whole lifecycle. Through the calculation of the carbon dioxide emissions for the production of one ton steel for the year 2019, we further provide an updated reference for the product emissions of steel-based end products.