Direct reduced iron (DRI) is a lower-emissions route for steelmaking, using natural gas or hydrogen instead of coke-fired blast furnaces. The number of DRI projects worldwide has grown by more than 50% since 2020, according to GMK Center. That is real progress in a sector responsible for roughly 7% of global CO2 emissions. The project pipeline is expanding due to regulatory pressure, hydrogen pilot programs, and corporate net-zero targets. But DRI is not automatically clean. Running on natural gas cuts emissions by about a third versus blast furnaces. Running on green hydrogen cuts far deeper. The crucial detail is what energy source each project plans to use and whether these projects move from announcement to operation. For anyone tracking industrial decarbonization, this is a signal to watch. The next few years will show if the pipeline turns into actual capacity, and whether iron ore supply and clean energy inputs can scale with it.
