China Baowu and BHP have renewed their steel decarbonization partnership through a new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), extending collaboration that began in 2020.
The partners will continue working on lower-emissions steelmaking, with a focus on technologies that can reduce emissions from existing blast furnaces as well as emerging pathways across the steel value chain.
A key priority will be modified blast furnace technologies using BHP’s Pilbara iron ore, targeting carbon dioxide emissions intensity at least 30 pct below conventional blast furnace operations, and potentially more than 80 pct lower when carbon storage and renewable energy are available.
The companies will also continue trials using BHP’s Pilbara ores in direct reduced iron (DRI), followed by processing in China Baowu’s planned demonstration electric smelting furnace (ESF).
Since 2020, the companies have conducted several steelmaking trials, including a trial using Pilbara ores in China Baowu’s 1 mln tons per year hydrogen-based DRI furnace. The resulting iron had around 50 pct of the CO2 intensity of blast furnace-based metal, while pilot ESF tests demonstrated near-zero-emissions steelmaking potential, according to the companies.
In 2024, China Baowu, BHP and Monash University also established an Industry Knowledge Centre for Low Carbon Metallurgy, supporting research projects involving universities and research institutes in China and Australia.
China Baowu Group is the world’s largest steel producer, operating integrated steelmaking facilities across China. The company’s crude steel output reached 124.76 mln tons in 2025.