Iron and steel production is one of the most energy-intensive industries in the world and accounts for approximately 6.7% of global CO2 emissions*. Crude steel is either produced from primary materials such as iron ore, or from secondary materials such as recycled steel scrap. Primary steel production processes (blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace or open-hearth furnaces), typically use coal as an energy source and take place in large integrated facilities. Whereas secondary steel production processes (electric arc furnaces) typically use electricity as an energy source and take place in so called ‘mini-mills’.

The database captures a wide range of assets across the steel production process, including the procurement and processing of raw materials (in particular coking and pelletisation plants), the production of crude steel (integrated plants and mini-mills) and the production of finished steel products (downstream plants).

The Spatial Finance Initiative Global Database of Iron and Steel Production Assets provides information on global iron and steel production plants that are operational today. The database contains 1,598 production plants with exact geolocation and provides information about ownership, production type, plant type, capacity and production start year where available. Please contact spatialfinanceinitiative@cgfi.ac.uk to inform us about any errors, omissions or other feedback.

The Global Database of Iron and Steel Production Assets can be used by others and is available under a CC BY 4.0 license. The suggested citation is: “McCarten, M., Bayaraa, M., Caldecott, B., Christiaen, C., Foster, P., Hickey, C., Kampmann, D., Layman, C., Rossi, C., Scott, K., Tang, K., Tkachenko, N., and Yoken, D., 2021. Global Database of Iron and Steel Production Assets. Spatial Finance Initiative”

A list with frequently asked questions about the databases and the data collection methodology is available here.

^{*World Steel Association. (2017). Steel’s Contribution to a Low Carbon Future and Climate Resilient Societies. World Steel Association.}