The session at 1Sustainability features Akwasi Ansah Antwi, Product Metallurgist at Nucor Corporation, one of the largest and most advanced low-carbon steel producers in the world. Antwi presents “The Future of Steel – Low Carbon Innovations from Furnace to Coils” and outlines how Nucor and the broader steel sector are reconfiguring production systems around electric arc furnaces, circular scrap-based flows, digital intelligence, and hydrogen-based direct reduced iron. His contribution aligns with the mission of 1BusinessWorld and 1Sustainability to bring forward leaders who are reshaping core industrial systems with scale, precision, and measurable impact.

Steel’s Global Role and Emissions Profile

Steel operates as a foundational material across the global economy and sits at the center of the low-carbon industrial transition. Buildings, transportation systems, energy infrastructure, industrial machinery, and digital networks all depend on steel for structural reliability and performance. In 2024, global steel production reached approximately 1.9 billion tons and accounted for an estimated 7 to 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Antwi uses these figures to position the decarbonization of steelmaking as a defining component of the broader climate and sustainability agenda.

Legacy Blast Furnace Route and Carbon Intensity

The traditional blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace route relies on coal-derived coke, limestone, and iron ore as the core feedstock for primary steelmaking. Coke functions as both the chemical reducing agent that strips oxygen from the ore and the primary heat source for the furnace. This method typically releases between 2.0 and 2.4 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of crude steel produced. Today, it still accounts for roughly 70 percent of global steel production capacity and remains one of the largest single industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Electric Arc Furnace Pathways for Low-Carbon Steel

Electric arc furnaces represent a structurally different and more flexible platform for steelmaking that is central to the future of low-carbon steel. EAF routes leverage electricity rather than coal for high-temperature processing and can accommodate a range of raw materials. Antwi describes three principal electric arc furnace pathways. The first uses direct reduced iron produced with natural gas, which lowers emissions relative to coal-based blast furnace steel. The second focuses on scrap-based steelmaking, where end-of-life vehicles, buildings, equipment, and electronics are remelted, and overall carbon performance depends on scrap quality and the cleanliness of the electricity supply. The third and most advanced pathway uses hydrogen-based direct reduction, where hydrogen replaces natural gas as the reducing agent and water vapor replaces carbon dioxide as the primary byproduct. Hydrogen-based systems can achieve between 0.1 and 0.3 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of steel, marking a substantial departure from legacy high-emission processes.

Global Technology Mix and Transition Dynamics

The current global steel technology mix reflects both entrenched infrastructure and accelerating innovation. Direct reduced iron paired with electric arc furnaces represents roughly 40 percent of the global steel production pathway, with particular strength in North America where natural gas availability has supported the economics of this route. Hydrogen-based direct reduction pathways remain below 10 percent of production but are expanding through major initiatives in Germany, Sweden, Europe, and Canada that focus on green steel and hydrogen-enabled ironmaking. Antwi uses this global snapshot to illustrate an industry in transition, moving from coal-based systems toward electrified and hydrogen-ready configurations that underpin the next generation of low-carbon steel.

Nucor’s Electric Arc Furnace–Centric Production Platform

Nucor Corporation has built its core business model around electric arc furnace steelmaking and low-carbon steel production. The company operates North America’s largest EAF network and has fully electrified its primary steel production routes, positioning itself structurally closer to a net-zero steel system. Long-term renewable energy agreements support the decarbonization of its electricity supply, aligning operational performance with clean power and green steel objectives. Antwi notes that Nucor’s current emissions profile—approximately 0.47 tons of CO₂ per ton of steel—is about one third of the global industry average, underscoring the impact of its strategic focus on electric arc furnaces and cleaner energy.

Circular Scrap Flows and Energy Efficiency

Circularity is a defining capability within Nucor’s model for sustainable steelmaking. The company recycles more than 21 million tons of scrap annually, a volume Antwi equates to diverting roughly one million vehicles from landfills and returning that steel into productive use through EAF-based green steel operations. Nucor also recycles approximately 77 percent of its internal steel waste, saving an estimated 40 million megawatt hours of energy per year—comparable to the annual electricity use of around 3.5 million households. Waste heat recovery systems capture about 30 percent of furnace heat and channel it back into the production process. These circular flows of scrap and energy demonstrate how industrial-scale steelmaking is integrating resource efficiency into its core operating architecture.

AI-Enabled Steel Production Ecosystem

Digital intelligence plays a prominent role in Nucor’s upstream steel production ecosystem. Antwi describes how furnace behavior, scrap blending, and process parameters are continuously optimized through automation and artificial intelligence deployed across the company’s mills. Predictive modeling enhances throughput, stability, and quality across the production lifecycle, reinforcing Nucor’s position at the intersection of advanced manufacturing, data-driven optimization, and low-carbon steelmaking.

Steel Climate Standards, Transparency, and Policy Alignment

Nucor Corporation has contributed to the development of the Steel Climate Standard, a global emissions reporting framework that establishes consistency for how steel sector emissions are measured and communicated. The company’s Nuclarity platform extends this transparency by providing customers with product-level emissions data for specific steel products, supporting rigorous carbon accounting and sustainability reporting. Emerging procurement requirements and Buy Clean policies increasingly prioritize materials with verified low-carbon profiles, and Antwi highlights that Nucor’s early and sustained alignment with these expectations has supported grants and partnerships, including a 50.7 million dollar award from the U.S. Department of Energy for green iron research and facility development.

Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron and the Green Iron Frontier

Hydrogen-based direct reduction represents a significant frontier for the future of green iron and low-carbon steel. Nucor is investing in hydrogen-enabled ironmaking research and emerging green iron facilities that can use hydrogen to separate pure iron from ore. Antwi points to ongoing work across Europe and North America that shows accelerated progress toward commercial-scale hydrogen DRI systems. The ability to produce iron using hydrogen instead of coal and to release water vapor rather than carbon dioxide marks a pivotal step toward dramatically lower emissions in primary steelmaking.

Strategic Importance and Long-Term Impact of Low-Carbon Steel

Antwi closes by positioning steel’s transformation within a long global arc of industrial change and energy transition. Steel has been central to infrastructure, mobility, energy systems, and economic growth for centuries, and its production methods have defined entire industrial eras. The shift toward electric arc furnaces, circular scrap models, hydrogen-based direct reduction, and data-driven optimization represents a defining moment for the steel industry’s low-carbon evolution. Within the 1Sustainability and 1BusinessWorld ecosystem, this session underscores the scale of impact and the central importance of steel in shaping a lower-carbon industrial future.