Pedal to the Metal

The 2025 'Pedal to the Metal' report by Global Energy Monitor evaluates the global iron and steel fleet's progress toward 2030 decarbonization goals, highlighting a gap between the planning of cleaner technologies and their actual construction.

• Electric arc furnace (EAF) capacity has increased by nearly 11% since 2020, and a further 24% increase is expected by 2030. If current retirements and developments continue, global EAF steelmaking could reach 36% by 2030, which is close to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) target of 37%.
• India has become the primary driver of global steel development, surpassing China. India's development pipeline totals 352 mtpa, representing over one-third of the global total, but only 8% of these projects have started construction. Furthermore, India accounts for 57% of all coal-based basic oxygen furnace (BOF) capacity currently under development.
• There is a significant lag between the planning and construction of cleaner steel technologies. While EAF-based capacity represents 50% of all projects in development, less than one-third of those are under construction. In contrast, 46% of steel projects that have already broken ground are based on the emissions-heavy BOF process.
• Direct reduced iron (DRI) is increasing its share of new ironmaking capacity to 42%, compared to 10% of current operating capacity. However, DRI development is currently falling behind global decarbonization targets.
• Australia and Brazil possess high-grade iron ore reserves and renewable energy potential that could support green DRI-EAF steelmaking, but both countries currently lag in the deployment of cleaner technologies like DRI.

APA

Grigsby-Schulte, A. (2025). Pedal to the Metal. Global Energy Monitor. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/pedal-metal-2025

Chicago

Grigsby-Schulte, Astrid. Pedal to the Metal. Global Energy Monitor, 2025. https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/pedal-metal-2025.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Grigsby-Schulte |first1=Astrid |title=Pedal to the Metal |publisher=Global Energy Monitor |date=29 May 2025 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/pedal-metal-2025 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{grigsbyschulte2025pedal, author = {Grigsby-Schulte, Astrid}, title = {{Pedal to the Metal}}, institution = {Global Energy Monitor}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/pedal-metal-2025}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }