A new start in a climate-friendly era: The BILSTEIN GROUP secures CO2-reduced steel from thyssenkrupp

• The BILSTEIN GROUP signs letters of intent with both thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg for the supply of CO₂-reduced bluemint® Steel from 2023.
• The supplier of premium cold-strip solutions from Hagen will in future offer climate-friendly products across its entire product range, thus reducing its carbon footprint.
• Memoranda of understanding lay the foundation for long-term supplies of certified CO₂-reduced steel products.
• Increasing volumes agreed until 2030.

Together with thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg, the BILSTEIN GROUP from Hagen has taken an important step forward on the road to decarbonizing steel production and processing. Both thyssenkrupp companies have concluded letters of intent for the supply of climate-friendly bluemint® Steel from 2023 onward. On the basis of CO₂-reduced wide strip directly from the Duisburg steelworks as well as climate-friendly bluemint® precidur® precision strip from Hohenlimburg, the BILSTEIN GROUP will in future be able to offer its customers CO₂-reduced cold-rolled products across its entire product range.

The volumes purchased by the BILSTEIN GROUP will increase gradually up to 2030, and from 2026 onward will come from thyssenkrupp Steel’s direct reduction plants with melters in Duisburg, which will be operated with green hydrogen and renewable electricity. With thyssenkrupp’s high-precision hot strip in a wide range of grades, the BILSTEIN GROUP manufactures products for highly demanding cold rolling applications in the automotive sector as well as the processing and toolmaking industries. Whether in saws and tools, door fittings, coins or vehicle seats: The BILSTEIN GROUP’s high-quality cold-rolled products are used in numerous industrial and household applications. Since the technical properties of the CO₂-reduced products do not differ from those of conventional steel grades, the BIL-STEIN GROUP, with these products made from certified steels with reduced CO₂ intensity, remains true to its globally acknowledged quality.

Climate-friendly steel value chain

For both the BILSTEIN GROUP and thyssenkrupp, the agreements are an important contribution to a climate-friendly steel value chain. "For all partners, the memoranda of understanding are a big step towards sustainability due to the scale of the volumes agreed upon. The production and use of high-precision hot strip with reduced CO₂ intensity makes a substantial contribution to reducing overall CO₂ emissions at all the players," stresses Dr. Heike Denecke-Arnold, Chief Operating Officer at thyssenkrupp Steel Europe. For the two long-established companies BILSTEIN GROUP and thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg, located in the immediate vicinity of one another in Hagen, the agreement underlines their long-standing partnership based on mutual trust.

"To implement our sustainability strategy, it is fundamental for the BILSTEIN GROUP to source CO₂-reduced and, in the future, CO₂-neutral input stock – after all, well over 90% of the carbon footprint of finished cold rolling strip currently comes from the manufacture of hot strip, our input stock. The agreements with thyssenkrupp are another important step for us on the way to significantly reducing the CO₂ emissions of our products as quickly as possible, and becoming carbon-neutral within the foreseeable future," explains Marc T. Oehler, CEO and shareholder of the BILSTEIN GROUP.

Climate protection as a common strategic goal

Both the BILSTEIN GROUP and thyssenkrupp have declared climate protection and sustainable action to be overriding strategic goals. With bluemint® Steel, thyssenkrupp is already offering steel grades with up to 70 percent lower CO2 intensity. In the production of the certified climate-friendly steels, sponge iron (HBI) produced upstream or specially processed steel scrap replaces coking coal proportionally in the blast furnace process. From 2026 on-ward, the steel is to come from direct reduction plants in conjunction with melting units powered by green hydrogen and green electricity. By 2045 at the latest, thyssenkrupp Steel aims to have completely carbon-neutral production in place.

The BILSTEIN GROUP is also pursuing an ambitious decarbonization strategy. To this end, the family-owned company in Hagen, Germany, has launched a Green Steel roadmap for far-reaching reductions in Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions. It is aiming to make its internal production, logistics, and administrative processes in Germany carbon neutral by 2035 at the latest. Since most of the CO₂ emissions from the cold-rolled steel strip come from the upstream material chain, the BILSTEIN GROUP must pay particular attention to this CO₂ content in particular, in order to achieve the goals it has set itself of significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the finished cold strip. By 2035, the specialist for cold rolling applications consequently also intends to switch completely to steel grades produced in a climate-friendly way.

About the BILSTEIN GROUP

The medium-sized family firm in Hagen has a 111-year history and produces premium cold rolling strip solutions for the automotive and processing industries, as well as the saw and tool industry. The leading international supplier of semi-finished products employs more than 1400 people worldwide. For the BILSTEIN GROUP, climate protection is part of its strategic orientation.