The Green Steel Challenge

Gareth Stace, Director General of UK Steel, the voice of the UK steel industry.Gareth represents producers at a critical moment, where competitiveness, energy costs, and decarbonisation are collidingFrom policy and trade to the realities of transitioning legacy assets, he sits right at the intersection of industry and government, helping shape what the future of British steel will look like.

Dave Burritt, President and CEO of US STEEL, one of the most iconic names in global steel.Under Dave’s leadership, U.S. Steel has gone through a fundamental transformation: reshaping its asset base, investing heavily in electric arc furnaces, and positioning itself for a lower-carbon future, while still operating some of the most demanding blast furnace assets in the world. And of course, he led the groundbreaking partnership between U. S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel.Dave is known for being pragmatic rather than ideological when it comes to decarbonization. He talks about what can scale, what can be financed, and what can actually be delivered in today’s steel markets.

Peter Kinzel has a degree in chemical engineering and PhD in process engineering.Peter started his career at Paul Wurth (today SMS Group) in 1999, has been living for 11 years abroad in South America, Chile and Brazil enabling him to gain experience in several ferrous and non ferrous processes.Since 4 years Peter is working on reducing the CO2 footprint for the traditional BF/BOF route by introducing the BLUE blast furnace and EASyMelt concept. Fluent in 5 languages and having a strong process background. Participation in over 30 patent families as well as co author in many scientific publications.

Our guest is Stefano Buono, physicist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Newcleo, a company developing next-generation reactors that run on recycled nuclear waste.We’ll dive into how advanced nuclear could provide clean, reliable power and heat for green steel – from hydrogen production to electrified plants – and what it would take to bring this from concept to reality over the next two decades.

We welcome from Brazil, Rogério Nogueira, Executive Vice President of Vale.Vale is one of the world’s largest producers of high-grade iron ore and nickel, headquartered in Brazil, with major operations across South America, Asia, and the Middle East. The company supplies a significant share of the global steel industry and plays a central role in the decarbonisation of iron and steel value chains.

Partner at World Steel Dynamics. World Steel Dynamics is a leading strategic information service that tracks, models, and forecasts steel industry trends — from pricing and trade to decarbonization and technology disruption. John joined us two years ago in Season 1 of the Green Steel Challenge, offering one of the most thoughtful takes on the structural changes shaping the steel industry.This time John would like to focus on scrap. Scrap is no longer a by-product — it’s the backbone of green steel. In this conversation, we’ll dive into where the scrap market is headed, who will win or lose in the global reshuffling, and what role policy, quality, and innovation will play in unlocking its full potential.

Pete Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Koloma, based in Denver, Colorado. Koloma is focused on exploring and developing geologic (or “natural”) hydrogen as a new low-carbon energy source.If Koloma succeeds, it could transform the economics and availability of hydrogen – this could be a game-changer for decarbonising heavy industry. We’ll discover what geologic hydrogen is, how it’s found, and what it could mean for the future of green steel. Pete is offering us a fascinating glimpse into the future of clean hydrogen and its potential to transform the way we think about energy and industrial decarbonisation.