The Heterogeneous Impact of Coal Prices on the Location of Cleaner and Dirtier Steel Plants

B-Tier
Journal: The Energy Journal
Year: 2022
Volume: 43
Issue: 2
Pages: 67-90

Authors (2)

Francois Cohen (Universitat de Barcelona) Giulia Valacchi (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.009 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Climate policy will predominantly affect industries that primarily rely on fossil fuels, such as steelmaking. Within these industries, exposure may be different by country according to the energy-intensity of national plants. We estimate the effect of coal prices on steel plant location worldwide and production preferences for BOF, a polluting technology, and EAF, a greener one. A 1% increase in national coal prices reduces BOF installed capacity by around 0.37%, while it has no statistically significant impact on EAF capacity. We simulate the implementation of a stringent European carbon market with no border adjustment and find a non-neg-ligible shift in steel production outside Europe, with a concomitant impact on the technologies employed to produce steel. If applied worldwide, the same policy would primarily affect production in Asia, which relies on BOF and currently benefits from lower coal prices than those expected to emerge in the future.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:sae:enejou:v:43:y:2022:i:2:p:67-90
Journal Field
Energy
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25