"There is a need to do things quicker so innovation needs to be re-engineered," he said. (Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Barbara Lewis)
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Miner Anglo American aims to invest in start-ups developing technology to cut carbon
emissions from steel-making and lower the group's carbon
footprint, it said on Tuesday.
Anglo, along with EU-funded EIT Raw Materials, has launched
a competition to find innovative small companies developing ways
to reduce greenhouse gases from the global steel sector, which
is responsible for 8% of all CO2 emissions.
EIT Raw Materials is implementing a European Union plan to
provide the critical raw materials needed to meet the bloc's
target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
As shareholders increase pressure on companies to pollute
less, Anglo is by far the biggest company that EIT Raw Materials
has worked with to develop technologies by drawing in
entrepreneurs and more are expected to collaborate.
"The problems are so huge and manifold that many of the
industry players can't cope with them anymore. On the other
side, we really have the means to activate our network," Bernd
Schaefer, managing director of EIT Raw Materials, said.
Anglo produces iron ore, the raw material to make steel, and
under carbon accounting standards, a company is also responsible
for indirect emissions from material it sells to others, known
as Scope 3 emissions.
"We are looking not only at how we decarbonise our own
operations, but also at how we can reduce the emissions of our
broader value chain," Benny Oeyen, Anglo's executive head of
market development, said.
Anglo, which produced 59.3 million tonnes of iron ore last
year, aims to halve its Scope 3 indirect emissions by 2040.
Short-listed companies will be assessed by Anglo's
decarbonised ventures team for potential investment and given
access to the group's expertise.
EIT Raw Materials has a portfolio of about 300 start-up
companies targeting a range of sectors, including exploration,
processing, recycling and substitution.
The group bills itself as the world's largest innovation
network in the raw materials sector, with nearly 1,000 sources,
including 300 of its own members plus another 600 partners of
the European Raw Materials Alliance.
These include universities, research institutes and
companies and organisations straddling various sectors.
In the past, major companies had big research departments
and did everything in-house, but the urgency of the green
transformation requires new strategies, Schaefer said.
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