Hållbarhet inom stålindustrin : Innovationer och strategier för en grönare framtid

Sammanfattning: The steel industry is in a critical situation where the industry contributes to global warming through its emissions, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. There are higher demands from various stakeholders and laws and regulations are becoming increasingly strict. The steel industry has been forced to change its processes and production in whole or in part to meet these demands. The production of steel must become more sustainable and therefore innovative solutions are required to promote sustainable steel production. The purpose of this study is to investigate how possible requirements for sustainability have affected the innovative work in the Swedish steel industry. The survey is based on the work of two Swedish steel companies. These are being compared regarding innovation and sustainability strategies to see if there are similarities and/or differences in their work. The purpose of the study is fulfilled through literature studies and interviews with two case companies in the Swedish steel industry. The collected empirical data in the study shows that both companies work actively with their innovation and sustainability work. Both companies have a vision to reduce their use of fossil sources and instead move towards a more fossil-free steel production. The case companies also have a strong focus on circularity and the use of scrap. What differentiates the two companies is their production techniques where they have applied different innovation strategies. Even their sustainability requirements differ in some ways due to the size of the company. Research on the connection between stakeholders' sustainability requirements and the innovation work in the Swedish steel industry was something that was missing. The study has therefore identified the research gap and tried to contribute information to this area. The study has contributed information about which stakeholders' sustainability requirements promote innovative solutions with the aim of reducing the steel industry's emissions. Further research can study whether the stakeholders can set higher demands and see what change this would have led to.