Future Cleantech Architects at COP30 in Belem, Brazil
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) will take place in Belem, Brasil, from the 10th to 21nd of November, 2025. As in the past years, Future Cleantech Architects is active for the conference, driving cleantech innovation in steel production and for energy storage technologies. Find below more information on our work and our events!
Our Events:
Our Topics:
Steel Decarbonization
Traditionally, the first step of steel production involves reducing oxygen-rich iron ore to (primary) iron in a blast furnace using coal. This releases large quantities of greenhouse gases, approximately 2.5 tonnes of CO2/tonne of steel. In fact, the global steel industry is responsible for 7 to 11% of the global GHG (GHG) emissions, which is more than the emissions of all EU countries combined.
In the second step, the iron is transformed into steel. These days, however, iron and steel do not necessarily have to be produced with coal: iron ore can be directly reduced with natural gas or hydrogen. The so-called DRI-EAF route combining direct reduction of iron ore with electric arc furnaces typically has 40% lower emissions than the traditional route. If direct reduction uses clean hydrogen and the electric arc furnace uses clean electricity, this route can lower emissions by 90% or more.
Another highly effective route to reduce emissions is recycling steel, as this omits the energy and emissions-intensive step of having to remove oxygen from iron ore. In the EU, almost 60% of all steel coming from steel mills was made from recycled material, more than double the global average.
Today, the EU is the world’s third largest producer of steel, standing at 7% of total global production. India has recently surpassed the EU to reach second place with 8%. China has been the global steel leader since the early 2000’s seeing fast growth to currently produce well over 50% of all steel. As most steel produced in these booming decades is still in use, availability of recyclable steel is limited.
Global projections indicate that while the percentage of recycled steel in steel production will gradually increase, recycled steel will only cover 50% of the global demand for steel in 2050 because of the time lag. This means that the production of new (primary) iron and steel also needs to be decarbonized, and that is where the DRI-EAF route comes in.
Multiple European steel producers have plans to use green hydrogen as a reducing agent. This, however, requires large amounts of electricity.
Compared to Europe, other regions of the world can have even lower-cost renewable production, for example allowing higher capacity factors for solar PV than in most of the EU. Memoranda of Understanding have been announced to import green hydrogen from regions where the conditions for solar panels or wind turbines are more favorable. But transporting liquid hydrogen is extremely challenging: it takes a lot of energy to cool the gas down to -253°C and store it in super-insulated actively cooled tanks. It would be much more efficient and cheaper if instead of importing iron ore and hydrogen, the EU imported hydrogen-reduced green iron from countries with abundant renewable electricity and good availability of high-quality iron ore. Brazil, the host of the upcoming climate conference COP30, is one of the countries that meets these requirements. Australia is another.
As a final note, we observe that the low-emissions steel market lacks consistent terminology, which makes it difficult for steel buyers to compare products from different producers. Ideally, a universal low-emissions steel classification would be agreed upon that manages to incentivize both recycling as well as the production of green primary iron.
Energy Storage
Storage technologies are considered as long duration energy storage (LDES) if they can continuously supply energy, at rated power, for at least 10 hours in a row. They enable the integration of large shares of wind and solar into the power grid (necessary to decarbonize electricity generation) by storing clean electricity when available and supplying it back when needed. By doing this, LDES balances supply and demand, reduces congestion and curtailment, provides grid stability, and improves energy security during times of low supply. LDES is not merely optional, but rather a critical tool for the energy transition.
LDES technologies are extremely diverse but can generally be grouped into four families: electrochemical, thermal, mechanical, and chemical. Some LDES technologies are suited for intraday applications, while others can supply energy consistently for several weeks or even months.
The most mature and widely implemented LDES technology is pumped hydro storage (PHS), which constitutes well over 90% of all energy storage capacity worldwide. The vast majority of new PHS installations are closed-loop, which greatly minimize the environmental footprint associated with historic on-river systems. However, large-scale PHS still typically faces decade-long development cycles and is not suitable for some geographies. Other LDES technologies (including innovative PHS schemes with faster development times and smaller constraints) are urgently needed to help accelerate storage deployment.
The LDES industry is in the lift-off phase of the developmental curve, proving the technologies work and are readily available for commercial use at the utility level. Furthermore, the wide array of LDES technologies ensures a diversified supply chain, supported by a variety of elements that are abundant and safe, instead of relying on a small number of fought-over resources prone to creating supply bottlenecks. LDES does not only provide flexibility and energy security, it also offers a variety of other valuable services (such as reducing curtailment and grid congestion, dealing with fast changes in demand, restarting the grid after a blackout, and improving power quality) that provide additional reliability. Current transmission and distribution planning often neglects these advantages and should be updated to reflect the multiple benefits that LDES brings to markets and the power system as a whole.
There are three notable types of policy support that can drive action towards net zero:
- Long-term market signals critically provide a more secure investment case for LDES, as they provide certainty and transparency, while more strategic planning for storage capacity targets and clearer procurement targets will aid the incorporation of LDES into inclusive grid planning. Carbon pricing and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies will help to level the playing field, while streamlining and simplifying permitting processes will be key in accelerating implementation.
- Revenue mechanisms are necessary for improving project financial viability for both customers and investors. Contracts for Difference, caps and floors, and 24/7 clean Purchase Power Agreements (PPAs) can all also be leveraged to achieve this. These tools provide mechanisms for ensuring the multiple value streams LDES provides are compensated and provide financial certainty.
- Direct technology support is needed to fast-track growth in public-private partnerships and accelerate innovation and delivery. Targeted R&D is needed to increase readiness levels of the least developed technologies and support for large-scale demonstrators is required to de-risk precommercial technologies, help expand supply chains for a growing demand, and boost investor confidence.