At the end of June, SteelWatch activists attended Nippon Steel general annual meeting, handing out material outlining Nippon’s unclear approach to decarbonisation as well holding banners reading: “Time to phase out coal”.
Activists met with shareholders to encourage them to speak out on Nippon’s approach to climate action and the business risks created by coal expansion. According to SteelWatch, the resolutions on climate change received 20-30% support at the 2024 annual general meeting, but since then the company has “moved backwards” in this area.
Roger Smith, SteelWatch Asia lead, said: “While Nippon Steel committed to achieving zero emissions, its actions tell a different story, pledging new investments in coal-based steelmaking to secure US Steel [a subsidiary of Nippon] and digging the hole deeper with even more coal mining in Australia.
“It almost seems like the company is trying to maximise the number of potential stranded assets. Nippon Steel is running an enormous risk by locking itself into decades more coal use, and missing opportunities to transform production and remain competitive in a carbon-constrained world.”
Nippon plans to re-line six of US Steel's furnaces by 2030. SteelWatch claims that the combination of US Steel’s and Nippon’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions, will make the company “one of the largest and dirtiest steelmakers globally”, as it generates around 100Mt-plus of emissions per year.
SteelWatch has reminded Nippon “that decisions today will continue impacting climate action for the next 10-20 years.”
