Guideline for the transformation: Dillinger and Saarstahl welcome new LESS labeling standard for low-carbon steel

Dillinger and Saarstahl, subsidiaries of SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar, welcome the introduction of the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS). The labeling system for low-carbon steel initiated by the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (German Steel Federation) and its member companies is based on results from a stakeholder process organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The aim of LESS is to accelerate the transformation to climate neutrality by making visible both the current status of the transformation and the efforts made on the way to producing climate-friendly steel, and thereby to also make these aspects marketable.

With the decarbonisation of the steel industry, LESS is pursuing the same goal as we are. As Germany’s third-largest steel manufacturer, we are making a significant contribution to this with PURE STEEL+ and our “Power4Steel” transformation project, with which Saarstahl and Dillinger aim to be producing only climate-neutral steel by 2045. The new, transparent labeling system can serve as a guideline and help us develop and market our ‘green’ steel products,” said Stefan Rauber, Chairman of the Board of Management of SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar and Chairman of the Board of Management of Dillinger and Saarstahl, emphasizing the importance of LESS.

And “green” steel is not just a dream for the future for the SHS Group: -Saarstahl Ascoval already produces highly CO2-reduced steel and Saarstahl Rail produces quality rails with significantly CO2-reduced steel from Saarstahl Ascoval, making Saarstahl currently the only manufacturer of “green” rails in Europe.

Starting in 2027/2028, SHS and its subsidiaries Dillinger, Saarstahl and ROGESA plan to produce up to 3.5 million tonnes of CO2-reduced steel per year under the PURE STEEL+ brand. By 2045, the entire production volume of up to 4.9 million tons of crude steel per year in Saarland is to be carbon-neutral.

A special feature of the new LESS standard is that it unifies both steel production routes here and makes it possible to compare them: today these are the primary steel route via the blast furnace and, in the future, both via low-carbon, hydrogen-based production processes and the scrap-based secondary route via scrap-based electric arc production. A lack of global scrap availability will continue to make the production of steel via the primary route necessary on a large scale in the future. With LESS, the carbon footprint of all steels can now be compared fairly and transparently. At the heart of LESS is the labeling system, which uses a graduated classification scale to classify low-carbon steel. More information can be found at: https://www.stahl-online.de/less/.