China officially announced that its carbon dioxide emissions will peak by 2030 before striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. According to statistics from the International Energy Agency, global energy-related carbon emissions in 2020 totalled 31.5Bt, with China holding the largest global share at 9.45Bt. China's steel carbon emissions account for more than 60% of global steel carbon emissions, and the steel industry's carbon emissions account for about 15% of the country's total emissions, according to the China Metallurgical Association.
The Chinese government expects that carbon emissions from the steel
industry will peak by 2025 and achieve a 30% reduction (~420Mt) from that peak
by 2030. There will be a substantial decline by 2035 and the steel industry in
China is expected to be decarbonized significantly by 2060. This transition will
boost demand for direct feed iron ore products—pellet and lump—as China's steel
industry tries to lift pellet ratio in blast furnaces to 30% by 2025, up from
17% in 2020.
Pellet vs Sinter
The blast furnace charge is composed of sinter, pellet, and
lump. Each blast furnace must determine the ratio of various charge according
to different production conditions to achieve the targets of environmentally
friendly and low-cost production.