The West’s Steel Hypocrisy: America Can’t Lecture India on Emissions

Steel constitutes the base of every modern economy. From infrastructure to automobiles to defence to manufacturing, it builds the world itself, in the most literal sense. But when it comes to emissions and climate responsibility, the global south, particularly India, faces the short end of the stick. And perhaps the loudest critics, the United States.

Let’s be clear on one thing: the decarbonisation of the steel industry is a necessity. But any serious discussion has to start with facts, not finger-pointing.

The US in 2023 made around 80 million metric tonnes or slightly more of crude steel, much of it using blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs), the most carbon intensive making methods in the industry. These facilities account for nearly 75% of steel related emissions in the US steel industry. There’s very little global outrage or media focus to pressure the US to clean up its act.

India, on the other hand, made about 140 million metric tonnes of steel, almost twice as much as the US, but much of this was from electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and induction furnaces. These technologies which use a greater proportion of recycled scrap and electricity rather than coking coal, produce much lower levels of CO₂ per tonne of steel. India’s steel industry is wrongly called “dirty” but it’s a fact that several Indian steel mills are more energy efficient per dollar of GDP than some of their Western counterparts.

This leads to a larger point: historical responsibility.

The US, representing 4% of the world’s population, has caused more than 25% of cumulative CO₂ emissions since the industrial revolution. India, the home to 17% of the world’s population, has put into the atmosphere less than 4% of all emissions in history. And these are not opinions, but facts published in numbers by climate institutions, including the Global Carbon Project.

Per capita emissions in the U.S. are 14.9 metric tonnes while those of India are only 1.9 tonnes per person (IEA, 2023). That’s almost eight times high. And yet it is the developing countries that are under pressure to move more quickly, without the same resources, capital or technologies.

The Western world polluted with impunity during its industrial ascent. But now, as countries like India are poised to undergo their own industrial revolution, we are supposed to jump over decades of infrastructure and jump right into green tech, but we are being denied the practical means by which to make such a transition happen.

Let’s talk about those tools.

It is expensive to make the transition to green steel with hydrogen, renewable energy and carbon capture. The likes of hydrogen based direct reduced iron (DRI) are still in their early days and largely contained to Europe or the US. The United States under the Inflation Reduction Act has offered $370 billion of subsidies and tax incentives for clean tech development which India appreciates but cannot emulate to that extent.

And what about the climate finance pledged under the Paris Agreement? Developed nations pledged to spend $100 billion a year helping developing nations make the shift to cleaner energy. That pledge has largely gone unfulfilled. And the small money that does trickle in is often in the form of loans at high interest with cumbersome terms and scant recognition for on-the-ground reality.

And yet, India is not resting on its laurels.

The biggest steelmakers such as Tata Steel, JSW and SAIL are already experimenting with greening measures including hydrogen tests and ramping up scrap based output. The Indian government has announced the National Green Hydrogen Mission and the Low Carbon Steel Roadmap. India makes a commitment to achieve net zero by 2070 - an ambitious goal that also reflects responsibility.

So, what’s really needed?

We don’t need sermons but affordable clean technology, R&D help and fair financing systems. The shift to low carbon steel across the globe must be done collectively not against our will. Pointing the finger at the Global South while the Global North churns out high-emission production is not climate leadership, it’s hypocrisy.

The world wants green steel for sure. But it also requires a just transition. One in which responsibility is reciprocal, history is recognized and opportunity is shared.

Let’s stop finger-pointing and begin working together because climate change does not discriminate by who is emitting more. But justice should.

 (Views expressed above belong solely to the author.)

(The author is executive director at KND Steel.)