Service Centre in Gelsenkirchen: Third CO2-neutral location of Tata Steel Nederland

he Gelsenkirchen site is part of Tata Steel Nederland’s Downstream business and is already the third European site of the steel manufacturer to achieve carbon neutrality in its production. This milestone follows the footsteps of the company’s service centres in Naantali, Finland, and Halmstad, Sweden.

“I am incredibly proud of our entire team, which has contributed with great commitment to ensure we operate CO2-neutral with regard to everything directly linked to our production,” explains Carlos Alván Peña, Managing Director of the Gelsenkirchen Service Centre.

In Gelsenkirchen, around 130 employees process advanced and high-strength steels primarily from Tata Steel’s mill in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, for customers in industries such as automotive, white goods, and construction. Operating a modern production facility, they cut steel coils into strips and sheets of various sizes facilitating the production of pressed parts, profiles and tubes, for example.

“Our journey towards CO2-neutrality began in 2022 with an interdisciplinary team mapping the site’s carbon footprint to identify potential savings,” continues Alván Peña. Since then, the site initially switched to CO2-neutral liquified gas and subsequently began to use only CO2-neutral propellant. Together with purchasing colleagues in IJmuiden, Gelsenkirchen ensured that today only renewable energies are purchased from a regional energy supplier.

Alván Peña: “These three steps have ensured that our site has now received the certificate for CO2 neutrality. This is a massive milestone for us.”
 
Gelsenkirchen’s achievement aligns with Tata Steel Nederland’s goal of becoming completely CO2-neutral by 2045. “In addition to major projects, such as the transformation to the production of green steel in IJmuiden, we are also working in other areas to become a more sustainable operating steel company,” explains Gunilla Saltin, Board Member of Tata Steel Nederland and Managing Director of the company’s Downstream business. “Our drive for sustainability in our downstream supply chain has great potential and we are pleased that our colleagues in Gelsenkirchen have taken a big step in this direction. Work is ongoing to ensure that also the other Downstream sites become CO2-neutral.”

Looking ahead, the Gelsenkirchen Service Centre aims to intensify its focus on enhanced circularity, energy independence, waste reduction, and decreased paper consumption. For example, charging stations for electric vehicles were installed in March 2024 and the company is working on introducing Zeremis® Delivered, the eco-friendly delivery service which was launched by Tata Steel Nederland in November 2023. This enables customers to reduce their scope 3 emissions1) and other emissions associated with steel transport. It is currently available to customers located within a 300-kilometer driving distance of the Tata Steel sites in the Netherlands and Belgium – including customers in Germany which are within that range. Furthermore, the Gelsenkirchen Service Centre is investigating whether it can enable its suppliers to use fossil-free energy powered trucks.

Source and Photo: Tata Steel Nederland