Steel Industry Could Lose Billions Over Obsolete Equipment

A new report suggests that steel producers could be forced to abandon tens of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment in coming decades as the world transitions away from coal.Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco energy policy think tank, says that as many nations work to phase out coal as an energy source in order to meet global climate goals, steel plants continue to rely on blast furnaces, which use a coal derivative known as coke to turn iron ore into pig iron, and ultimately, into steel.The GEM report, according to Reuters, suggests that as coal production winds down, those coal-powered blast furnaces could be idled, and the steel sector worldwide could be forced to write down those “stranded assets,” which the report estimates as worth $47 billion to $70 billion.