39 Ways to Save the Planet

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Tom Heap and Dr Tamsin Edwards uncover fresh ways to save the planet from climate change.

BBC Radio Four, in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society, presents 39 ideas to relieve the stress that climate change is exerting on the planet.

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39 Ways to Save the Planet: Steel without the fossil fuels

Steel without the fossil fuels

BBC Radio 4 - 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Steel without the fossil fuels

Steel-making is a huge emitter of carbon dioxide. Is green steel a genuine possibility?

Steel-making is the biggest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide. Meet the Swedes who've found a way to produce steel without harming the planet.

Modern civilisation is quite literally built on steel.  Our cities, our homes, our cars are unthinkable without it.  But steel-making is the biggest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide so the search is on for a clean, green method of turning iron ore into steel.

Tom Heap meets the Swedes who are ahead of the pack.  Three local companies- Vattenfall, LKAB and SSAB- have come together to deconstruct the whole process and develop ways to remove fossil-fuels from each stage of steel-making.  From the enormous iron ore mines of Arctic Sweden to the smelters and furnaces that produce the steel, carbon dioxide emissions are being radically reduced, but how close can they get to a truly green steel?

Tom and Dr Tamsin Edwards discuss the Swedish plans and calculate just how much of this industry's emissions could be wiped out in a generation.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Researcher: Sarah Goodman

Produced in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society. Particular thanks for this episode to Chris McDonald of the Materials Processing Institute.

Photo courtesy of: Åsa Bäcklin and HYBRIT

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