At the invitation of District Administrator Mr. Marko Wolfram, Federal Minister for the Environment Mr. Carsten Schneider visited our district on March 2.
As part of this, a working meeting took place with representatives of our company management, Mr. Alexander Stolze (Head of Purchasing and Warehouse Management) and Mr. Alexander Stier (Head of Sales and Logistics), as well as his predecessor, Dr. Rolf Wendler.
SWT is a pioneer in Europe in the production of green steel. Only 335 kilograms of CO₂ are produced per ton, whereas conventional steel, which is predominantly produced in blast furnaces by reducing iron ore with coke, generates around two tons. These sustainability aspects should be positively considered in tenders, for example, through a lower CO₂ footprint of building materials. “We must create lead markets here,” Mr. Alexander Stier urged the Minister. The specific demands were formulated and submitted in a letter to Minister Schneider and his counterpart, Federal Minister of Transport Mr. Patrick Schnieder. District Administrator Marko Wolfram supports this: “In Unterwellenborn, new, low-CO₂ steel products are recycled from 100 percent steel scrap at competitive prices. This must also be taken into account compared to other materials.”
Market opportunities are offered, for example, by the two large federal companies Deutsche Bahn AG and Autobahn AG. Here, steel railway sleepers instead of concrete or plastic could contribute to the ecological transformation if the CO₂ balance is an important evaluation factor in awarding contracts. Minister Schneider promised to address the issue in discussions with the new CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Ms. Evelyn Palla.
Another topic was the planned use of our company’s waste heat.
We thank all participants for the extremely constructive discussion.
