The Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) set its industry a target of achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

This goal is the central plank of the CSPA’s Climate Call to Action document released earlier this month. The association calls the document, “an industry first that lays out the necessary conditions to achieving this significant vision.”

“We know that climate change is a global challenge that requires our collective action,” said CSPA president Catherine Cobden in a release. “While net zero is an aspirational goal, we believe we can achieve our vision of a low-carbon steel sector if we work in collaboration with governments, stakeholders, customers and the supply chain.”

The Climate Call to Action document sets out five conditions the industry must achieve to reach its target. Specifically, it calls for industry to create new partnerships and research collaborations with academic research councils such as the National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. CSPA hopes to use such collaborations to identify and commercials ways toward reducing emissions.

Steel is a huge consumer of energy and a major emitter of greenhouse gases. As yet, there are no proven, commercially viable, low-carbon alternatives to many aspects of production. The industry therefore also aims to develop and adopt innovative clean technologies to bring its emissions down. Several new technologies—such as using replacing carbon fuels with hydrogen as a reducing agent for iron ore, using biomass to replace coal, and electrifying fossil-fuel consuming processes such as reheat furnaces, stoves and boilers, and building heat—are being tested worldwide. None, however, is yet commercially viable. The industry aims to work with customers and partners to transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Climate Call to Action also recommends adopting new technologies to optimize steel manufacturing. It calls for procurement policies and trade measures to support the carbon advantages associated with using domestic steel, as opposed to dumped products, and advocates for purchasing policies that consider the lifecycle costs of all building systems and materials, as opposed to simply purchasing materials on a lowest-price basis.

“Canada has positioned itself as a global leader in fighting climate change. To get there, we must create conditions that both drive low carbon transformation and the maintenance of our competitive position,” said Cobden. “Through this effort, the Canadian steel industry is signalling it is ready to work with governments and partners to address this challenge while keeping our industry strong and competitive well into the future.”

Canadian producers have reduced their emissions by 25 percent since 1990.