Nippon Steel and JFE Lag Globally in Decarbonization; International NGO Releases Corporate Ranking

(Tokyo, March 31, 2026) According to the first "Steel Company Scorecard" [1] survey by international climate NGO SteelWatch published today, none of the 18 major steelmakers assessed are adequately prepared for the transition to decarbonization, revealing that Japanese companies in particular are lagging behind. This research is based on companies' publicly available data up to fiscal year 2024.

Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel, ranked 17th out of 18 companies (16.8 points out of 100), and JFE Steel ranked 12th (23.4 points), both remaining at the bottom. None of the assessed steelmakers achieved a score of 50, but Nippon Steel and JFE Steel remained at lower scores than their global peers, primarily due to their dependence on coal.

The main reason Nippon Steel was evaluated in the lowest group of companies is that it is focusing on life-extension technologies for high-emission coal blast furnaces rather than phasing them out. Regarding coal consumption, it is on an upward trend. On the other hand, some companies evaluated in the scorecard have clear plans to end coal use.

According to the comprehensive assessment, despite most companies publishing net-zero targets, high-emission coal dependence continues, and the expansion of low-emission technologies is painfully slow. Each company faces a severe "transition readiness gap"—the gap between the level required for steelmakers to transition and their current efforts.

"We expect influential steelmakers like Nippon Steel and JFE Steel to accelerate their efforts toward drastic structural reform based on the evaluation results of this scorecard," said Roger Smith, Asia Lead at SteelWatch.

Link to full report and webpage: https://steelwatch.org/scorecard?lang=ja Materials such as photos, charts, and corporate score information can be downloaded from here.

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Notes: 1. The overall score (out of 100) is evaluated based on five categories in total, including "Climate Action Performance," "Target Setting and Transparency," and "Social and Environmental Impact." The average score for "Moving away from coal" remained at 10.5 (out of 25), with all assessed companies except four having recently executed or planning investments in coal blast furnaces. The average score for "Expanding low-emission steel production" was even lower, at just 0.6 points (out of 25).

2. The main findings of this scorecard are as follows: - At present, the assessed companies have not made sufficient preparations for the transition to near-zero emissions.