Nippon Steel challenged on green posturing and coal expansion at AGM
Tokyo, Japan, 24 June 2025 – Both inside and outside of its annual general meeting today, Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel was urged to spell out how it plans to reach decarbonisation targets, following a string of deals significantly expanding and prolonging coal-based production.
SteelWatch activists met shareholders attending today’s annual general meeting (AGM) with materials outlining Nippon Steel’s increasingly incoherent approach to decarbonisation, and a banner reading “Time to phase out coal”, encouraging investors to speak out about the business risks from coal expansion and empty decades of climate inaction.
Despite shareholder resolutions on climate change at the 2024 AGM garnering 20-30% support, the company has moved significantly backwards on climate change in the past year.
“While Nippon Steel committed to achieving zero emissions, its actions tell a different story, pledging new investments in coal-based steelmaking to secure the U. S. Steel and digging the hole deeper with even more coal mining in Australia,” said Roger Smith, SteelWatch Asia Lead.
The company is also attempting to stave off buyer demands for low-emissions steel by changing the rules for how emissions are accounted, proposing a deceptive “mass balance” creative accounting method, and actively working to weaken international steel standards [1].
“It almost seems like the company is trying to maximise the number of potential stranded assets. Nippon Steel is running an enormous risk by locking itself into decades more coal use, and missing opportunities to transform production and remain competitive in a carbon-constrained world,” said Smith.
U. S. Steel’s total emissions in 2023 amounted to 29.51 Mt (Scope 1 and 2), and this is unlikely to contract given Nippon Steel’s plan to reline six of its blast furnaces by 2030. Combined with its total reported emissions of 76.5 Mt (Scope 1 and 2) for FY2023, Nippon Steel’s operations will generate an estimated 100Mt-plus of emissions per year, transforming it into one of the largest and dirtiest steelmakers globally.
By the time Nippon Steel finishes relining U. S. Steel’s blast furnaces, giving them another 20 years of life, President Trump will be out of office. SteelWatch urges investors to question the company’s strategy and make transition out of coal today’s priority. Government regulators and steel buyers are increasingly demanding decisive actions from companies to reduce emissions in the coming years.
As Nippon Steel faces a new chapter in its overseas expansion with the U. S. steel deal closing, it is reminded of its responsibility, and that decisions today will continue impacting climate action for the next 10-20 years.
Ends
Images from today’s protest activity are available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1v70tD-Sddv3pniRjzpVObvQz1OgGxtdZ
For more information on Nippon Steel’s climate actions, see SteelWatch’s 2025 Corporate Climate Assessment: https://steelwatch.org/reports/nscca2025/
Contacts:
Roger Smith, Asia Lead, SteelWatch (Japan)
[email protected]
Shiori Matsumoto, SteelWatch Asia Communications and Research Officer
[email protected], +34 613 869508 (Spain)
Greg McNevin, SteelWatch Communications (Australia)
[email protected], +61 0475 247 044
Notes:
- Civil society organisations urge rejection of deceptive accounting schemes in steel standards https://steelwatch.org/press-releases/civil-society-organisations-urge-rejection-of-deceptive-accounting-schemes-in-steel-standards/
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