Challenges for the European steel industry: Analysis, possible consequences and impacts on sustainable development

  • The steel industry in the European Union (EU), important for the economy as a whole, faces various challenges. These are inter alia volatile prices for relevant input factors, uncertainties concerning the regulation of CO₂-emissions and market shocks caused by the recently introduced additional import duties in the US, which is an important sales market. We examine primary and secondary effects of these challenges on the steel industry in the EU and their impacts on European and global level. Developing and using a suitable meta-model, we analyze the competitiveness of key steel producing countries with respect to floor prices depending on selected cost factors and draw conclusions on the impacts in the trade of steel on emissions, energy demand, on the involvement of developing countries in the value chain as well on the need for innovations to avoid relocations of production. Hence, our study contributes to the assessment of sustainable industrial development, which is aimed by the Sustainability Development Goal “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation countries”. By applying information on country-specific Human Development Indexes (reflecting aspects of life expectancy, education, and per capita income), we show that relocating energy-intensive industries from the EU may not only increase global energy demand and CO₂-emissions, but may also be to the disadvantage of developing countries.

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Metadaten
Author:Stefan Vögele, Matthias GrajewskiORCiD, Kristina Govorukha, Dirk Rübbelke
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114633
ISSN:0306-2619
Parent Title (English):Applied Energy
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publication:Amsterdam
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2020
Date of the Publication (Server):2020/03/03
Volume:264
Issue:Article number: 114633
Link:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114633
Zugriffsart:campus
Institutes:FH Aachen / Fachbereich Medizintechnik und Technomathematik
collections:Verlag / Elsevier