The iron and steel industry is a large emitter of CO₂ globally. This is especially true for the iron and steel industries in China, Japan, and Korea due to their production volumes and the prevalence of carbon-based steel production. With few low-carbon and commercially available alternatives, the iron and steel industry is truly a hard-to-abate sector. Each of the countries of interest have committed to a net-zero future involving the mitigation of emissions from steel production. However, few studies have investigated the means by which to achieve decarbonization beyond the inclusion of price signalling policies (e.g., carbon tax or emission trading schemes). Here, we use E3ME-FTT:Steel to simulate technology diffusion in the ISI under several policy environments and we investigate the likely impacts on the wider economy. The results show that penalizing carbon intensive processes can incentivize a transition towards scrap recycling, but it is relatively unsuccessful in aiding the uptake of low carbon primary steelmaking. A combination of support and penalizing policies can achieve deep decarbonisation (>80% emission reduction compared with the baseline). Mitigating the emissions in the iron and steel industry can lead to economic benefits in terms of GDP (China: +0.8%; Japan: +1.3%; Korea: +0.1%), and employment (Japan: +0.7%; Korea: +0.3%) with China, where job losses in the coal sector would negate job gains elsewhere, as the exception.

To achieve carbon neutrality in Japan by 2050, renewable energy needs to be used as the main energy source. Based on the constraints of various renewable energies, the importance of hydrogen cannot be ignored. This study aimed to investigate the diffusion of hydrogen demand technologies in various sectors and used projections and assumptions to investigate the hydrogen supply side. By performing simulations with the E3ME-FTT model and comparing various policy scenarios with the reference scenario, the economic and environmental impacts of the policy scenarios for hydrogen diffusion were analyzed. Moreover, the impact of realizing carbon neutrality by 2050 on the Japanese economy was evaluated. Our results revealed that large-scale decarbonization via hydrogen diffusion is possible (90% decrease of CO₂ emissions in 2050 compared to the reference) without the loss of economic activity. Additionally, investments in new hydrogen-based and other low-carbon technologies in the power sector, freight road transport, and iron and steel industry can improve the gross domestic product (1.6% increase in 2050 compared to the reference), as they invoke economic activity and require additional employment (0.6% increase in 2050 compared to the reference). Most of the employment gains are related to decarbonizing the power sector and scaling up the hydrogen supply sector, while a lot of job losses can be expected in the mining and fossil fuel industries.

To achieve carbon neutrality in Japan by 2050, renewable energy needs to be used as the main energy source. Based on the constraints of various renewable energies, the importance of hydrogen cannot be ignored. This chapter aimed to investigate the diffusion of hydrogen demand technologies in various sectors and used projections and assumptions to investigate the hydrogen supply side. By performing simulations with the E3ME-FTT model and comparing various policy scenarios with the reference scenario, the economic and environmental impacts of the policy scenarios for hydrogen diffusion were analyzed. Moreover, the impact of realizing carbon neutrality by 2050 on the Japanese economy was evaluated. Our results revealed that large-scale decarbonization via hydrogen diffusion is possible (90% decrease of CO2 emissions in 2050 compared to the reference) without the loss of economic activity. Additionally, investments in new hydrogen-based and other low-carbon technologies in the power sector, freight road transport, and iron and steel industry can improve the gross domestic product (1.6% increase in 2050 compared to the reference), as they invoke economic activity and require additional employment (0.6% increase in 2050 compared to the reference). Most of the employment gains are related to decarbonizing the power sector and scaling up the hydrogen supply sector, while a lot of job losses can be expected in the mining and fossil fuel industries.