mercedes wants to reduce and avoid CO2 emissions before offsetting them, and for this the German firm aims to use more than 200,000 tons of steel with reduced CO2 emissionsfrom European suppliers.

“Supplying more than 200,000 tonnes of CO2-reduced steel per year to our production sites in Europe marks an important milestone for our ambitious sustainability goals. Together with its partners, Mercedes-Benz will continue to pave the way for a new fleet of carbon-free vehicles by 2039. At the same time, we are sending an important signal for the transformation of the European steel industry.”– said Markus Schaefer, Chief Technical Officer, Head of Development and Procurement, Mercedes-Benz Group.

Mercedes aims to reduce CO2 emissions from steel production

In the production of an electric car, steel takes 20% of total CO2 emissions. Mercedes has taken another step towards the climate protection goal “Ambition 2039”: by 2030, the average CO2 emissions of a Mercedes car will be at least halved compared to 2020 over the entire life cycle, from the supply of raw materials to use and recycling. .

Traditional primary steel production today produces an average of more than two tons of CO2 per ton of steel produced. The aim is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions through the process of direct recovery and steel production in electric arc furnace.

In such a furnace, direct reduction pig iron is remelted directly into steel together with scrap. By replacing gas with environmentally friendly hydrogen and renewable energy sources for the operation of the electric arc furnace, emissions can be further reduced, resulting in almost CO2-free steel.

Mercedes: partners for a neutral carbon footprint

To achieve its goals, Mercedes-Benz and Thyssenkrupp Steel entered into a partnership agreement for the purchase of CO2-reduced steel produced using direct reduction units associated with innovative foundries using green hydrogen.

Today, Mercedes already uses flat steel with a low CO2 content Salzgitter Flachstahl, which is produced only from scrap metal in an electric arc furnace. Reduction of CO2 emissions with this method of production can be reduced by more than 60%. Mercedes and Salzgitter have agreed to use raw steel produced from clean electricity, potentially saving more than 75% of CO2 emissions.

One of Mercedes-Benz’s other partners for the supply of low CO2 steel is an Italian steelmaking partner Arvedi : it switched part of its production to green electricity. Thus, Mercedes-Benz pursues its goal of creating a fleet of new cars neutral carbon footprintthroughout the value chain.

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