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Making steel is one of the most carbon-intensive parts of building a car. To reduce the environmental impact of its vehicles, Porsche says it will use CO2-reduced steel in its vehicles from 2026.
The material will be supplied by H2 Green Steel using a novel process. The process uses electricity and hydrogen, rather than coking coal, to heat the steel. This helps reduce CO2 emissions during production by up to 95 percent, according to H2 Green Steel.
Porsche says it will use the lower-emission steel directly, as will some of its direct suppliers, starting in 2026. However, it won't be able to fully switch to the new steel due to manufacturing constraints. Porsche will only receive 35,000 tons of H2 Green Steel. While that may sound like a lot, the automaker used 220,000 tons of steel in its vehicles in 2022.
“Porsche is working towards a carbon-neutral balance sheet across the value chain for its cars by 2030. CO₂-reduced steel plays a key role in our sustainability strategy,” said Barbara Frenkel, head of procurement at Porsche. “With the steel from H2 Green Steel, we aim to further reduce the CO₂ emissions caused by this important material.”
Porsche isn't the first to commit to using low CO2 steel. Other automakers, such as Volvo and Mercedes, have signed agreements with suppliers using similar processes. The former even made a cargo rack out of low-emission steel.
Porsche says it has been slowly reducing the amount of steel it uses in its vehicles in favor of lighter aluminum. However, it claims that steel's favorable mechanical properties make it difficult to eliminate completely. Finding a way to reduce its environmental impact will be important, as the steel industry contributes up to 7 percent of direct CO2 emissions worldwide each year.
Source: Porsche
