Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) becomes the first manufacturer to deliver a construction machine built using SSAB fossil-free steel to a customer. This demonstrates the fast-tracking of innovation to real-world solutions as companies across the value chain come together to drive change.
The Volvo machine, an A30G articulated hauler, built using fossil-free steel was handed over from Volvo CE to NCC at a ceremony hosted by LeadIT – the Leadership Group for Industry Transition – in conjunction with the United Nations environmental meeting Stockholm+50.
The handover comes just nine months after Volvo unveiled the world´s first vehicle concept using fossil-free steel, as part of testing the implementation in an ordinary production setup, and just ten months after SSAB showcased the first steel ever made using hydrogen instead of coking coal.
“This is a step change in the green transition, showing in practice that it is possible to build partnerships and create fossil-free value chains that will help mitigate climate change. I am happy and proud to collaborate with Volvo Group and NCC as forerunners in decarbonization. Together, we hope to inspire others, so that we strengthen the competitiveness of sustainable solutions and enable the objectives of the Paris agreement,” says Martin Lindqvist, CEO and President of SSAB.
“We are sure that to succeed in decarbonizing the construction industry, actors in the value chain will need to collaborate and act. Thanks to our strong partnerships with other driven and forward-thinking companies, we are now able to lead the change towards fossil-free construction and be the first to deliver a machine built using fossil-free steel to a customer. Turning commitments into actions is key to building the world we want to live in,” says Melker Jernberg, President of Volvo CE.
“NCC has a firm commitment to contribute to sustainable development. We are working determinedly and systematically to reach that target, which includes selecting machines that live up to our high demands. As demonstrated in this great example, it takes strong and proactive partnerships between several players to make the sustainable shift possible,” says Tomas Carlsson, CEO and President of NCC.
In the summer of 2021, SSAB produced the world's first steel made from sponge iron reduced by hydrogen gas on a pilot scale. SSAB plans to offer fossil-free steel at an industrial scale to the market as early as in 2026 and aims to largely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from its own operations in around 2030, 15 years ahead of previous plans. Together with our partners and customers, we want to build completely fossil-free value chains, from mine to end product.
