Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the steel industry achieves the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation for ore-based steelmaking to reach net zero by 2035, as set out in the Net Zero Strategy, published 19 October 2021.

In collaboration with the Steel Council, we are considering the implications of the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee to ‘set targets for ore-based steelmaking to reach near-zero emissions by 2035’ and the business environment necessary to support the transition.

The Net Zero Strategy sets out how we intend to meet our Carbon Budget 6 ambition of reducing industrial emissions by 63-76% by 2035, compared to the 2019 level. Hydrogen-based steelmaking, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage, and electrification are some of the technological approaches being examined as part of this process.

We will continue to work with the steel industry regarding its decarbonisation.