Tata Steel's green steel strategy: How the company plans to cut carbon while growing production in India

Tata Steel is trying to grow its steel output without sharply increasing its carbon footprint. The company is using multiple approaches at once: more renewable energy, energy efficiency upgrades, biochar to replace some coal, and more scrap steel in its furnaces. It has also turned its industrial waste into a revenue stream, recycling or reusing 99.9% of by-products. The company faces the same challenge as other Indian steelmakers. Steel demand is still growing because India's per capita consumption is less than half the global average. But steel is capital intensive, so betting on the wrong low-carbon technology could create stranded assets. Tata Steel is avoiding a single technology bet and instead running several parallel paths. Water and circularity are also part of the plan. Tata Steel aims to be water positive by 2030 and already reports water positivity in five of the nine river basins where it operates. The company is pushing for government green procurement policies that would create a premium market for low-carbon steel, which it sees as critical since green steel currently costs more to produce.