Nippon Steel’s global expansion lacks responsible climate plan: report

1 June 2026

NipponSteelYawataWorks — Nippon Steel’s Kyushu Works, Yawata Area. SteelWatch.

Tokyo, Japan, 1 June 2026 – Nippon Steel’s recent global expansion has not been matched by responsible climate action, with the company continuing to rely on outdated coal-based production strategy, according to a new Corporate Climate Assessment released by SteelWatch today.

It has been nearly one year since Nippon Steel acquired U. S. Steel, but despite the deal adding around a third to its global emissions (1), the company is forging ahead with plans to keep its coal-based blast furnaces online, through experimental and expensive technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Instead of addressing its coal problem through responsible transformation, the company is also trying to cook the books with opaque “GX Steel” products, using creative carbon accounting methods to sell steel produced with coal as decarbonised steel.

“Even if it is successful, Nippon Steel’s plan to keep coal-based production running with experimental technologies will only eventually and partially reduce blast furnace emissions. Its plans to keep using coal are harming communities and the global climate,” said Mikiko Ishii, the report’s author and SteelWatch campaigner.

“SteelWatch urges Nippon Steel to look at its goal to become the ‘world’s best steelmaker’ more holistically. It needs to be the one that makes not just the best quality, but the most sustainable and the most socially responsible steel in the world.”

While the company has been promoting its electric arc furnace (EAF) expansion, the reality is its production remains predominately coal-based, and it has already set an undignified precedent by ignoring community calls for clean transformation, and relining the highly polluting Blast Furnace 14 at Gary Works, Indiana (2).

“Nippon Steel has disappointingly failed its first test by relining a coal-based blast furnace at subsidiary U. S. Steel’s Gary Works. With decisions for the total USD 14 billion investment by 2028 on horizon, we expect the company to live up to the promise of a ‘once in a generation transformation,’ not prolonging the status quo and locking in decades of pollution,” said Roger Smith, SteelWatch Asia Lead.

In the lead up to its annual general meeting on June 23, SteelWatch is calling for Nippon Steel to commit to:

Ensure alignment of emissions reduction efforts across both domestic and international operations.
Halt blast furnace relining and investments to prolong and expand coal use.
Set clear retirement dates for all blast furnaces, both in Japan and overseas.
Make concrete investments in securing green iron.
Align R&D and investments with near-zero emissions compatible technology.

Read the full report, Great expansion, greater responsibility here: https://steelwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/26-06-Great-expansion-greater-responsibility-NS-CCAR-update-2026.pdf

END