Ranchi, 25 May 2023: A stakeholder consultation ‘Green Steel : Transition to Low Carbon Future in Jharkhand’ was jointly organised by the Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition, Government of Jharkhand and its technical partner Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED) today. The main objective of the roundtable consultation was to deliberate on the pathways to decarbonise the steel manufacturing sector to achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions and move towards sustainable energy transition and net-zero scenario in the state.
Jharkhand is one of the biggest producers of steel in India. Making steel is largely seen as a highly carbon intensive activity. The energy consumption in the iron and steel industry is currently the highest of any other industrial sector. Considering significant energy and natural resources consumed in the steel market’s rapid expansion, the sector needs to change its business and operation activities as per the energy efficient and lower carbon emission standards.
Addressing the consultation, Mr Jitendra Kumar Singh, IAS, Secretary, Department of Industries, Government of Jharkhand said that ‘Steel is the most essential building and engineering materials and one of key resources of modern infrastructure. The state has a good presence of steel manufacturing industries, which require adoption of sustainability based business operations to achieve its economic goals and net-zero ambitions. The steel sector should increasingly adopt decarbonisation measures as a key priority. The department is ready to creating enabling framework, providing hand-holding support and guidelines to enable the sector to produce green steel to contribute in making a low carbon economy in the state.’
Outlining the broader objectives of the consultation, Mr A.K. Rastogi (IFS Retd.), Chairman of Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition said that “Jharkhand is an industrialised state with a strong presence of hard to abate industries such as iron-steel, transport vehicles, cement and others. As a part of the work, the task force has identified these sectors to sensitise the industry people and other stakeholders through a series of consultations on the need of decarbonisation and to take note of their concerns and aspirations in a mutually discussed manner. This consultation with the steel segment will identify the possible intervention areas for a possible action plan and decarbonisation pathway which will contribute in strengthening the process sustainable energy transition in the state.’
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ramapati Kumar, CEO of CEED said, ‘A comprehensive action plan is necessary to fully utilise the potential of green steel in Jharkhand. This includes creating a guiding-pathway for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, particularly the iron and steel segment, and promoting collaboration between government, industry, techno-solution providers and think-tank to drive the cleaner energy transition process for a sustainable future.’
The consultation mooted key ideas and solutions in the technical session with experts and industry representatives across the state. The session was addressed by Mr Ajit Kothari, Chief-Project and Planning, Sustainability and Decarbonisation (E&P), Tata Steel; Ms Kajol, World Resource Institute; Mr Subharata Rath, Regional Director, Assocham, etc. The key pointers that presented were; futuristic industrial & manufacturing planning, encouraging decarbonisation measures, harnessing carbon capture, storage and utilisation technologies, need of incentives for the industries, avenues of financial mechanisms, deployment of innovative technologies, and developing short and long-term pathways for the sector.
The workshop witnessed participation of senior officials of iron-steel and forging industries, public sector undertakings, such as Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd, sustainability think-tanks, and techno-solutions providers from the state..
