Copenhagen will host the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from the 7th to the 18th of December 2009. This conference will be crucial for the shape of future international climate change policies – and the future competitiveness of the European steel industry. The European steel industry is committed to play its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Community by at least 20% by 2020 compared to 1990. The industry has already made a substantial contribution to achieving this objective by its reduction of CO2 per tonne of production. The available steel production technologies are now near their limits. However, the EU steel industry is committed to further reduce its CO2 emissions in the framework of a global level playing field and to invest into research on breakthrough technologies (e.g. ULCOS programme – “Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking”).
