Fortunately, we’d already made a start, having launched XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel in 2021. This is steel made in an electric arc furnace which uses high levels of recycled scrap as its metallic input and 100 per cent renewable electricity as a power source.
For Paris 2024, we knew ‘high levels of recycled scrap’ wouldn’t be enough: our target was to create a torch with half the carbon footprint of the torch used at the London 2012 Games. Only using 100 per cent recycled scrap as the metallic input would suffice, so that’s exactly what we did.
The outcome is steel with a carbon footprint lower than traditional steelmaking techniques