The Tata Steel Nederlands service center in Gelsenkirchen has achieved carbon neutrality in its production processes for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. This represents a significant step towards sustainability and makes the location one of the few CO2-neutral steel service centers in Germany. The external audit confirming this performance was carried out by the independent certification body DNV.
The Tata Steel site in Gelsenkirchen is part of Tata Steel Nederland's downstream business and is already the third European site of the steel manufacturer to achieve CO2 neutrality in its production. This milestone follows the service centers in Naantali, Finland and Halmstad, Sweden.
“I am incredibly proud of our entire team, who have contributed with great commitment to ensuring that we work in a CO2-neutral manner in all areas that are directly linked to our production,” says Carlos Alván Peña, Managing Director of the Gelsenkirchen Service Center.
Around 130 employees in Gelsenkirchen process modern and ultra-high-strength steels, mainly from Tata Steel's plant in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, for customers in the automotive, white goods and construction industries, among others. With the help of a modern production system, they cut the steel coils into strips and sheets of various sizes, which make it possible, for example, to produce pressed parts, profiles and pipes.
“Our path to carbon neutrality began in 2022 with an interdisciplinary team that mapped our site’s carbon footprint to identify potential savings,” Alván Peña continues.
Since then, the site initially switched to CO2-neutral liquid gas and subsequently began using only CO2-neutral fuels. Together with purchasing in IJmuiden, Gelsenkirchen also ensured that today only renewable energy is purchased from a regional energy supplier.
“These three steps have ensured that our location has now received the certificate for CO2 neutrality. This is a huge milestone for us,” says Alván Peña.
CO2 neutrality by 2045
The success in Gelsenkirchen is in line with Tata Steel Nederland's goal of becoming completely CO2-neutral by 2045.
“In addition to our major projects such as the switch to green steel production in IJmuiden, we are also working in other areas to become a more sustainably operating steel company. Our pursuit of sustainability in our downstream supply chain holds great potential and we are pleased that our colleagues in Gelsenkirchen have taken a big step in this direction. We are continuing to work on ensuring that the other locations of the downstream business also become CO2 neutral,” explains Gunilla Saltin, board member of Tata Steel Nederland and managing director of its downstream business.
With a view to the future, the Gelsenkirchen Service Center would like to focus more on the topics of improved circular economy and energy independence as well as the reduction of waste and its paper consumption. For example, electric vehicle charging stations were installed in March 2024 and work is underway to introduce the environmentally friendly delivery program Zeremis® Delivered, which Tata Steel Nederland launched in November 2023. This enables customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions1) as well as other emissions associated with steel transport.
It is currently available to customers within a radius of 300 kilometers from the Tata Steel locations in the Netherlands and Belgium - including customers in Germany who are within this radius. In addition, the Gelsenkirchen Service Center is investigating the extent to which it can enable its suppliers to use trucks that run on fossil-free energy.
