Emsteel taps nuclear power to cut steel emissions

26/12/2025 04:08 AST

Emsteel Group, a leading integrated steel and building materials manufacturer in the region, has announced a major step toward decarbonising steel production through collaboration with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC).

By sourcing clean, nuclear-generated electricity certified under Abu Dhabi's Clean Energy Certificates Programme (I-REC Standard), managed by Emirates Water & Electricity Company (EWEC), Emsteel aims to lower its carbon footprint and advance its TrueGreen sustainability strategy, which unifies decades of decarbonisation initiatives.

This move builds on a decade-long partnership with ENEC, dating back to the construction of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant-the first multi-unit operational nuclear facility in the MENA region-where Emsteel supplied 160,000 tonnes of nuclear-grade rebar, meeting 60% of the project's needs.

Through purchasing nuclear-generated Clean Energy Certificates, Emsteel gains access to low-carbon electricity, directly reducing Scope 2 emissions and positioning itself as the first regional steelmaker to leverage nuclear energy certificates, demonstrating innovation in a hard-to-abate sector.

Currently, Emsteel integrates 86% clean electricity in steel operations and 14% in cement production, combining over 1.48 million MWh from nuclear and 651,594 MWh from solar power.

The company targets 100% clean electricity by 2030, aligning with its long-term decarbonisation roadmap.

The Barakah Plant, producing around 40 TWh annually, meets up to 25% of the UAE's electricity demand, avoids 22.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year, and operates under global standards with at least 60 years of service ahead.

EMSTEEL's efforts exemplify how cross-sector partnerships drive industrial transformation, establishing a regional benchmark for low-carbon steelmaking and supporting the UAE's Net Zero 2050 Strategy through sustainable, secure, and resilient energy.

Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, Group CEO of Emsteel, said: "Clean energy, technology enablement, and verified data are central to credible industrial decarbonisation. Through TrueGreen, we are integrating these principles into every aspect of our operations. This synergy with ENEC strengthens our clean energy portfolio and supports our long-term strategy to scale low-carbon steel production. It reflects how national partnerships can accelerate industrial transformation and position the UAE as a global leader in sustainable manufacturing."

Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of ENEC, said: "Pairing ENEC's carbon-free baseload electricity with Emsteel's continuous industrial load demand shows what the energy transition looks like in practice: clean power at industrial scale, delivered with traceable certificates while in parallel ensuring grid reliability. This collaboration turns a decade of partnership into a repeatable model for hard-to-abate sectors, lowering Scope 2 emissions today while strengthening competitiveness and supply-chain certainty. As demand from AI, electrification, and industry grow, Barakah's proven performance gives the UAE a platform to decouple growth from emissions and to export proven solutions to generate abundant clean electricity at scale to a highly efficient timeline."

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