Nippon Steel investment in Blackwater coal mining undermines decarbonisation efforts

SteelWatch statement on Nippon Steel and JFE Steel jointly investing USD$1.08 billion in Whitehaven Coal’s Blackwater coal mine in Australia.

Tokyo, Japan, 22 August 2024 – Reacting to the announcement that Nippon Steel and JFE Steel have jointly invested USD$1.08 billion in Whitehaven Coal’s Blackwater coal mine in Australia, the international climate organisation SteelWatch says:

“Nippon Steel wants us to believe that it will be a zero emissions steel company by 2050, but it is relying on unworkable technology and expanding its use of coal, claiming it needs ‘high quality coal’. Choosing marginally less-polluting coal over transforming its business to be fossil-free is a poor excuse for a company refusing to do the right thing, and decarbonise properly. This announcement shows Nippon Steel is a serious threat to global efforts to halt catastrophic climate change, especially considering it wants to become the world’s third largest steelmaker with the acquisition of the U.S. Steel,” said Toko Tomita, SteelWatch Campaigns Director.

“Nippon Steel’s appetite for coal should alarm everyone committed to keeping average global temperatures to 1.5C. While the world races to decarbonise, Nippon Steel is racing to dig up more coal.” 

Ends

Contacts:

Shiori Matsumoto, Communications, SteelWatch (Japan)
[email protected] +81 70 8411 0256

Notes:

1. Nippon Steel acquires equity interests in Blackwater Coal Mine in Australia, 22 August, 2024.
2. Coal-based steel production drives over two tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel, and the use of metallurgical coal in steelmaking makes it the biggest industrial emitter of CO2 globally. It must be phased out for a decarbonised sector. Nippon Steel is committing itself to coal-based production, insisting that metallurgical coal is “essential to [its] business strategy”. It is doing this despite the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicting that demand for coking coal (metallurgical coal) will fall as “existing sources of production are sufficient to cover demand through to 2050” (Net Zero by 2050, October 2021). 
3. SteelWatch, Too Little Too Late: Corporate Climate Assessment of Nippon Steel 2024, 31 May, 2024.

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