Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy powerhouse, and EMSTEEL, the UAE’s largest publicly listed steel and building materials company, have announced the successful completion of a pilot project demonstrating the use of green H₂ to produce green steel.

The Abu Dhabi-based pilot project, the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East and North African region, uses green H₂ to extract iron from iron ore, a key step in steelmaking. The pilot project is now fully operational and has successfully commenced the production of green steel.

The renewable H₂ produced by the project has been certified by Avance Labs, the H₂ code manager accredited by the International Tracking Standard Foundation, in accordance with the recently released ISO 19870 methodology for H₂. The certification data was validated by Bureau Veritas, acting as the third-party assurance provider.

Steel production is a very important industry in the UAE. However, as it is carbon-intensive and hard-to-abate, the sector globally contributes between seven and eight percent of worldwide carbon emissions. Decarbonizing this industry is therefore essential to propelling the world towards a net-zero future.

Rising global demand for green steel presents huge growth potential for the UAE, as the country aspires to be a major green steel production hub. The use of sustainable building materials, including steel, is being promoted through the National Green Certificates Program, launched by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure in July 2024.

The partnership between Masdar and EMSTEEL has demonstrated the potential for green H₂ to decarbonize the global steel value chain, whilst demonstrating how clean energy and heavy industry partners in the UAE are collaborating and taking urgent action to accelerate the energy transition.

Masdar Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, said, “This project demonstrates world-class innovation as a result of our partnership with EMSTEEL to produce green steel utilizing green H₂. Decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries is vital to the global undertaking to achieve the objectives of the historic UAE Consensus agreed at COP28. Green H₂ is an essential element in advancing national and global decarbonization efforts and we are proud to be at the forefront of that endeavor.”

Eng. Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, Group Chief Executive Officer of EMSTEEL, said, “We are committed to propelling decarbonization efforts in the sector, in support of the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative. Our efforts to date have been fruitful, with our current utilization of clean energy sources rising above 80% in 2023. EMSTEEL is also the first steelmaker in the world to capture part of its CO₂ emissions, enabling us to operate with 45% less carbon intensity than the global average. Our partnership with Masdar will play a key role in continuing to build on our efforts to decarbonize this hard-to-abate sector and the downstream supply chain.”

The pilot project aligns with Abu Dhabi’s Low Carbon H₂ Policy which promotes low-carbon H₂ as a future clean energy source, constituting a significant milestone towards ensuring economic growth, sustainability, and energy security and a strategic step towards a sustainable future. The Low Carbon H₂ Policy complements the UAE National H₂ Strategy, which seeks to establish the UAE as a leading global producer of low carbon H₂ by 2031.