Ferrexpo decreased total carbon emissions by 32% in 2023

The company continues studying options to reduce carbon intensity

In 2023 Ferrexpo, the London listed iron ore company with assets in Ukraine, emitted 384 ths tons of CO2 emissions. This indicator declined by 32% y-o-y reflecting lower production due to war related constraints. It`s stated in the released Full Year Financial Results for 2023 of Ferrexpo.

Carbon intensity per ton of products, including Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, decreased by 2.2% y-o-y and 32.1% compared to 2019 (baseline year in company’s decarbonization strategy). The management team confirms that further reductions in carbon emissions are possible in coming years, however protracted war creates uncertainty in making further decarbonization achievements.

Scope 3 emissions for Poltava GZK, Yeristivsk GZK and Bilanivski GZK, which are part of the Group, connected to the type of iron ore pellet produced, since 96% of these emissions in 2023 related to the downstream processing of iron ore. In 2023, no direct reduction (DR) pellets were produced, while in 2022 they represented 6% of all production. As a result, Scope 3 emissions on a unit basis increased from 1.24 tCO2/t in 2022 to 1.33 tCO2/t in 2023.

With regard to further reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Ferrexpo has initiated a number of projects, including a clean power purchasing strategy and studying options to reduce diesel consumption by installing clean electricity powered pantograph-trolley-assist technology to haul trucks out of the open pit mines. To decrease Scope 3 emissions, the company plans to focus on the production of high-quality pellets used to produce direct reduction iron, which is a feedstock for electric arc steelmaking.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Ferrexpo aims at reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions footprint by 50% till 2030 compared to 2019 as baseline year. In 2022 annual report, the company also confirmed its intention to achieve net zero emissions in Scope 1 + 2 by 2050 and to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 50% over this period. All targets are calculated on a per ton of production basis, so production output will not influence them.