BMW plans to supply steel produced with green energy and hydrogen

The BMW Group continues to take initiatives that will significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the supply chain. From 2025, the company plans to supply steel, which is produced with up to 95% less CO2 emissions and without the need for mineral raw materials such as coal. For this purpose, it has an agreement with the Swedish startup H2 Green Steel, which uses hydrogen and green energy from renewable sources for the production of steel. Due to the extremely energy-intensive production process, steel production is considered one of the main sources of global CO2 emissions.

In addition to supplying green steel, BMW and H2 Green Steel have also agreed to create a closed loop material cycle. H2 Green Steel will receive scraps of sheet metal, such as those that appear in the presses after the creation of the door panels, will process them and return them to the factories in the form of new steel rolls, also known as steel coils. In this way, raw materials can be used many times in a circular economy to protect natural resources. Because less energy is required for production, secondary steel reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 50 to 80% compared to the primary material.

The group already uses 20% to 100% secondary steel in its vehicles and intends to increase this percentage in the future. Press mills in Europe process more than half a million tonnes of steel a year.

H2 Green Steel is building a steel plant in the county of Norrbotten in northern Sweden, near the Arctic Circle. The area is famous for its reindeer and spectacular Northern Lights, while providing access to high quality iron ore, abundant energy from renewable sources, such as hydroelectric and wind, in an important port and many years of know-how in steel production.