Miele Group, the manufacturer of premium domestic appliances, is backing ‘green steel’ from Salzgitter AG to reduce its CO₂ footprint. The Salzgitter Group is working closely with customers and partners to achieve climate protection goals – true to our strategic mission of ‘partnering for transformation’.
In this context, within the framework of a Salzgitter AG partnering program, Miele and Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH have now signed a declaration of intent to secure a defined quantity of ‘green steel’ for Miele to be produced and delivered commencing from the end of 2025 under the SALCOS® – Salzgitter Low CO₂ Steelmaking program.
As Ulrich Grethe, Chairman of the Management Board of Salzgitter Flachstahl and a member of Group management, explained: “’Green steel’ products are attracting ever-increasing interest among our customers in a wide variety of industries and sectors. This agreement with our long-standing customer Miele is another example of how a market is developing for sustainably produced steel products.”
Hans Krug, Senior Vice President Procurement at Miele, commented: “We are delighted that with Salzgitter AG, we have a strong and competent partner at our side who will support us in further reducing the CO₂ footprint of our products. This agreement will bring both our companies a step closer to achieving our climate goals.”
The Salzgitter Group has entered into similar partnering agreements with numerous companies in a variety of sectors, including the automotive industry, cold-rolling specialists, and domestic appliance manufacturers.
In a pilot project, the domestic appliances group based in Gütersloh is already processing low-CO₂ steel Stahl for use in stoves and ovens. Thanks to the use of climate-friendly energy sources and steel scrap, the volume of CO₂ emitted in the manufacture of this material is reduced by more than 66 per cent.
In this way, Miele is making an initial contribution towards further reducing emissions in the field of outsourced goods and services, as well as taking an important step forward in implementing its ambitious sustainability goals. Going forward, hydrogen and electricity derived from renewable sources will be able to completely replace the carbon that has until now been required in the production of steel and reduce CO₂ emissions in steelmaking by over 95 per cent.
Salzgitter AG is working towards this ambitious goal through its SALCOS® – Salzgitter Low CO₂ Steelmaking transformation program, which features electricity from renewable sources and hydrogen as its central elements. Together, the two will replace the carbon currently used in the conventional blast furnace process.