BERLIN, 02 March – EIT RawMaterials and Anglo American – a leading global mining company with a diversified portfolio of future-enabling products – have launched a global innovation challenge to tackle steel decarbonisation. Steel is a critical material that underpins global society but one whose manufacturing process is currently estimated to produce around 8% of total global carbon emissions.
To meet climate targets, the industry must develop and commercialise new low-CO2 technologies within the next 5-10 years. This will mean exploring pathways for transition with a focus on bridging the gap between innovation-driven technology and industry stakeholders.
As a producer of premium iron ore products used in steel production, and in line with its ambition to reduce its Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2040, Anglo American is supporting this challenge as part of a range of initiatives seeking to reduce the carbon intensity of the steelmaking value chain.
Innovators with novel technologies are strongly encouraged to apply to the challenge. Relevant focus areas include:
- Ore beneficiation for Direct Reduced Iron
- Altering existing processes such as sintering and induration
- Advanced Blast Furnace, DRI-Electric Arc Furnace, and alternative iron-making technologies
- The increased use of scrap metal feedstock in high-quality flat steel production
- Carbon-capture utilisation or sequestration solutions
Short-listed companies will be assessed by Anglo American’s Decarbonisation Ventures team for potential investment and provided access to a range of commercial and operational expertise to support them on their scale-up journey.
It is the mandate of EIT RawMaterials’ to drive innovation to decarbonize the raw materials sector, from mining to recycling, but it takes a global village and great industry leadership and collaboration to look beyond their own boundaries to solve solutions for the greater good – that is, to address the challenges of climate change. EIT RawMaterials, Europe’s leading raw materials network is proud to lead this initiative with Anglo American, and by doing so we hope this global Open Innovation Challenge will set a new benchmark for others to persist in finding bold and creative ways to engage with the world’s best innovators to solve our most pressing industry decarbonisation challenges. – Bernd Schäfer, CEO, EIT RawMaterials.
At Anglo American, we are committed to creating, accelerating and investing in climate-positive startups as part of our purpose of re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives. In this we are looking not only at how we decarbonise our own operations, but also at how we can reduce the emissions of our broader value chain. Building on our track record of supporting promising innovations across a range of emerging technology spaces, we look forward to reviewing the submissions to this challenge and leveraging our expertise, scale and network to identify ideas with potential, and support their growth. – Benny Oeyen, Executive Head, Market Development, Anglo American.
To apply, submit your proposal on the application platform by 22 May 2023 at https://open-innovation.eitrawmaterials.eu/challenges/anglo-american-innovation.
