China News Service, Beijing, January 13 (Reporter Pang Wuji) Global iron ore giant Vale announced on the 13th that the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (“Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group”), a large Chinese steel enterprise.

Under this Memorandum of Understanding, the parties agreed to pursue opportunities to develop steelmaking options focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

　　It is understood that Vale and Liugang Group plan to jointly study and explore the possibility and feasibility of cooperation on the following matters: First, Liugang Group will build a metal charge factory in Southeast Asia, and Vale will supply it with high-grade iron ore products;

　　Second, Liugang Group uses Tecnored technology (a new environmentally friendly and efficient ironmaking technology) to deal with the residues generated in the steel production process;

　　The third is to build beneficiation and grinding facilities to produce high-grade pellet concentrates in Chinese ports or in Liugang Group factories.

In the iron and steel production process, since the energy consumption ratio and emissions of the pelletizing process are significantly lower than those of the sintering process, increasing the proportion of pellets used is regarded as an effective measure to improve economic efficiency and emissions in the iron and steel industry.

　　Vale said the partnership will help Vale meet its commitment to reduce net Scope 3 emissions by 15 percent by 2035.

Vale has also committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 33% by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement.

　　According to standards set by bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon emissions, are divided into three categories: "Scope 1" includes all direct emissions; "Scope 2" includes electricity, heat or steam consumption Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions.

Under this category, many multinational companies have extended their carbon reduction goals to their upstream and downstream supply chains in order to expand the effectiveness of carbon reduction.

Example: Schneider Electric said it had signed sustainability commitments with key suppliers.

European oil and gas companies such as Shell, BP, and Eni have also set targets for reducing the carbon intensity of upstream operations.

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