POSCO Group chief: steel desperately needs corporate solidarity

South Korea’s POSCO Group on Tuesday said its Chairman Choi Jeong-woo presided over the regular meeting of the World Steel Association on Sunday and Monday in Shanghai, China, where he stressed solidarity and cooperation among member companies for the industry to achieve carbon neutrality.

In his keynote speech at the association’s general assembly, the chairman, who concurrently heads the Belgium-based global body, said, “To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, we need to take a big step forward with the two wings of technology and policy.”

He also proposed devising common tasks among member companies and accelerating technological development through a joint R&D program for carbon neutrality technology.

The chairman added that detailed discussions on the program’s operational plans are scheduled for December at the Breakthrough Technology Conference in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. The event will feature innovative green know-how such as hydrogen reduction steelmaking and carbon capture, utilization and storage and talks on sustainable growth.

The meeting of the association’s executive committee had CEOs of major global steelmakers discussing the development of future self-driving car body solutions, trends in world standards for gauging CO2 emissions and forecasts for international steel demand.

In addition, POSCO Group said Chairman Choi on Sunday also attended a joint conference in Shanghai hosted by the China Iron and Steel Association and China Baowu Steel Group Corp. There, he made a keynote speech on the future of steel in the carbon neutrality era.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com