Google has taken a significant step to bring the world’s first large-scale, near-zero emissions steel plant online. The tech giant is partnering with Stegra to bring the green hydrogen-based steel plant online.
While traditional steel manufacturing relies on coal to process iron, Stegra’s plant in Boden, Sweden, will use renewable electricity to generate green hydrogen. The hydrogen is then reacted with iron ore to produce iron. Stegra estimates that removing coal from the process can cut emissions by up to 95% compared to traditional blast furnace manufacturing.
Near-zero emissions steel production
“We’re partnering with Stegra to help bring the world’s first large-scale, green hydrogen-based, near-zero emissions steel plant online,” said Google in a statement.
“The steel is designed to meet the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) definition for near-zero emissions steel production, marking an important step toward addressing the impact of the hard-to-decarbonize steel industry.”
Under the new agreement, Google will receive environmental attribute certificates (EACs) from a portion (up to 91,000 metric tons) of the steel produced in Stegra’s first year of production. Companies purchase EACs to drive demand for sustainably produced materials, address construction emissions, and help scale and finance these early stage technologies, according to a press release.
“There are some players globally that can help move markets towards decarbonized products in an impactful way,” said Henrik Henriksson, Stegra CEO.
“Google is naturally one such player. Beyond the call to action to increase the supply of sustainably produced steel, we are also grateful that the team at Google chose to work with Stegra and support our first years of operations in this way.”
Stegra also highlighted that near-zero emission steel will initially be available at limited volumes and in few locations. Purchasing environmental attributes enables committed buyers to address their steel-related emissions, even when direct procurement of the physical product is challenging, due to factors like geographical separation or value chain separation.
This is also a mechanism that can support the scaling and financing of new industrial companies in clean tech, and the investment in new sustainable technologies.
“By supporting innovative technologies and partnering with coalitions like the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform, we hope to bring more green building materials to market and increasingly incorporate them into our own operations,” added Google in the statement.
“We estimate this can reduce the embodied carbon emissions from data center infrastructure by up to 40%. In 2025, we successfully integrated low-carbon concrete, steel, or a combination of both in over 20 construction projects.”
