IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v25y2021i2p390-402.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Matilda Axelson
  • Sebastian Oberthür
  • Lars J. Nilsson

Abstract

The European steel industry must achieve deep greenhouse gas emission reductions to become climate neutral by 2050. New business models are often proposed as one of the key solutions but are mostly addressed in general terms, without elaborating on or systematically analyzing how these new business models are actually linked to specific mitigation measures or strategies. In this paper, we assess when and to what extent different emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry have implications for business model innovation. Through a review of 42 recent publications on industrial decarbonization, we identify 9 types of decarbonization strategies for steelmaking and their emission reduction potential. The strategies achieve emission reductions through material efficiency, emission efficiency, or a combination of both. For each strategy, we analyze the need for incremental or radical changes in business models on the basis of a thorough reading of the business model literature. Our findings show that EU steel firms can pursue several strategies to decarbonize without having to radically innovate their business models. Importantly, material efficiency strategies, arguably key to decarbonization, imply more radical changes to business models than emission efficiency strategies. Our study is a first contribution to the systematic assessment of industrial decarbonization strategies from a business model perspective. It is also an attempt to bring more rigor to the understanding of the role of business models in industrial decarbonization.

Suggested Citation

  • Matilda Axelson & Sebastian Oberthür & Lars J. Nilsson, 2021. "Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 390-402, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:25:y:2021:i:2:p:390-402
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13124
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13124?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Céline CARRERE & Jaime MELO DE, 2009. "Non-Tariff Measures: What do we Know, What Should be Done?," Working Papers 200933, CERDI.
    2. Nancy M. P. Bocken & Elsa A. Olivetti & Jonathan M. Cullen & José Potting & Reid Lifset, 2017. "Taking the Circularity to the Next Level: A Special Issue on the Circular Economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 476-482, June.
    3. Stina Alriksson & Marianne Henningsson, 2015. "Why Aren't Advanced High–Strength Steels More Widely Used?: Stakeholder Preferences and Perceived Barriers to New Materials," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(4), pages 645-655, August.
    4. Stefan Schaltegger & Florian Lüdeke-Freund & Erik G. Hansen, 2012. "Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 95-119.
    5. van Ruijven, Bas J. & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & Boskaljon, Willem & Neelis, Maarten L. & Saygin, Deger & Patel, Martin K., 2016. "Long-term model-based projections of energy use and CO2 emissions from the global steel and cement industries," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 15-36.
    6. Seiji Hashimoto & Marina Fischer‐Kowalski & Sangwon Suh & Xuemei Bai, 2012. "Greening Growing Giants," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(4), pages 459-466, August.
    7. Igor Álvarez Etxeberria & Eduardo Ortas & Stefan Schaltegger & Stefan Schaltegger & Igor Álvarez Etxeberria & Eduardo Ortas, 2017. "Innovating Corporate Accounting and Reporting for Sustainability – Attributes and Challenges," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 113-122, March.
    8. Wesseling, J.H. & Lechtenböhmer, S. & Åhman, M. & Nilsson, L.J. & Worrell, E. & Coenen, L., 2017. "The transition of energy intensive processing industries towards deep decarbonization: Characteristics and implications for future research," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1303-1313.
    9. Oliver Gassmann & Karolin Frankenberger & Roman Sauer, 2016. "Exploring the Field of Business Model Innovation," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-41144-6, September.
    10. B. Demil & X. Lecocq, 2010. "Business model evolution : in search of dynamic consistency," Post-Print hal-00572915, HAL.
    11. T. E. Graedel & Julian Allwood & Jean‐Pierre Birat & Matthias Buchert & Christian Hagelüken & Barbara K. Reck & Scott F. Sibley & Guido Sonnemann, 2011. "What Do We Know About Metal Recycling Rates?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(3), pages 355-366, June.
    12. Capros, Pantelis & Zazias, Georgios & Evangelopoulou, Stavroula & Kannavou, Maria & Fotiou, Theofano & Siskos, Pelopidas & De Vita, Alessia & Sakellaris, Konstantinos, 2019. "Energy-system modelling of the EU strategy towards climate-neutrality," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    13. Kate Scott & Jannik Giesekam & John Barrett & Anne Owen, 2019. "Bridging the climate mitigation gap with economy‐wide material productivity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(4), pages 918-931, August.
    14. Henry Chesbrough & Richard S. Rosenbloom, 2002. "The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: evidence from Xerox Corporation's technology spin-off companies," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 529-555, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nick Blume & Maik Becker & Thomas Turek & Christine Minke, 2022. "Life cycle assessment of an industrial‐scale vanadium flow battery," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(5), pages 1796-1808, October.
    2. Eric Masanet & Niko Heeren & Shigemi Kagawa & Jonathan Cullen & Reid Lifset & Richard Wood, 2021. "Material efficiency for climate change mitigation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 254-259, April.
    3. Rainer Radloff & Ali Abdelshafy & Grit Walther, 2023. "An integrative and prospective approach to regional material flow analysis: Modeling the decarbonization of the North Rhine‐Westphalian steel industry," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 662-675, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna M. Hansson & Eja Pedersen & Niklas P. E. Karlsson & Stefan E. B. Weisner, 2023. "Barriers and drivers for sustainable business model innovation based on a radical farmland change scenario," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8083-8106, August.
    2. Luigi Fusco Girard & Marilena Vecco, 2021. "The “Intrinsic Value” of Cultural Heritage as Driver for Circular Human-Centered Adaptive Reuse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-28, March.
    3. Erik G. Hansen & Ferdinand Revellio, 2020. "Circular value creation architectures: Make, ally, buy, or laissez‐faire," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(6), pages 1250-1273, December.
    4. Arash Rezazadeh & Ana Carvalho, 2018. "A value-based approach to business model innovation: Defining the elements of the concept," NIPE Working Papers 12/2018, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    5. Daliborka Witschel & Aaron Döhla & Maximilian Kaiser & Kai-Ingo Voigt & Thilo Pfletschinger, 2019. "Riding on the wave of digitization: insights how and under what settings dynamic capabilities facilitate digital-driven business model change," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(8), pages 1023-1095, December.
    6. Marko Peric & Jelena Durkin & Vanja Vitezic, 2017. "The Constructs of a Business Model Redefined: A Half-Century Journey," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, September.
    7. Payam Hanafizadeh & Mohammad Mehrabioun & Kambiz Badie & Jahanyar Bamdad Soofi, 2018. "A Systemic Framework for Business Model Design and Development -Part A: Theorizing Perspective," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 437-461, August.
    8. Sarah Pamenter & Rupert J. Myers, 2021. "Decarbonizing the cementitious materials cycle: A whole‐systems review of measures to decarbonize the cement supply chain in the UK and European contexts," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 359-376, April.
    9. Pauliuk, Stefan & Kondo, Yasushi & Nakamura, Shinichiro & Nakajima, Kenichi, 2017. "Regional distribution and losses of end-of-life steel throughout multiple product life cycles—Insights from the global multiregional MaTrace model," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 84-93.
    10. Run Wang & Abdella Kosa Chebo, 2021. "The Dynamics of Business Model Innovation for Technology Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review and Future Avenue," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    11. Boguslawa Bek-Gaik & Anna Surowiec, 2023. "Sustainable Business Models in Non-Financial Reporting in Polish Practice," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 1002-1024.
    12. Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    13. Cinzia Battistella & Gianluca Murgia & Fabio Nonino, 2021. "Free-driven web-based business models," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 445-486, June.
    14. Sebastian Schroedel, 2023. "The Sustainable Business Model Database: 92 Patterns That Enable Sustainability in Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, May.
    15. Gerrit Remane & Andre Hanelt & Jan F. Tesch & Lutz M. Kolbe, 2017. "The Business Model Pattern Database — A Tool For Systematic Business Model Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-61, January.
    16. Amel Attour & Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2014. "Écosystèmes et modèles d'affaires : introduction," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 11-25.
    17. Maria Rosa De Giacomo & Raimund Bleischwitz, 2020. "Business models for environmental sustainability: Contemporary shortcomings and some perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3352-3369, December.
    18. Souto, Jaime E., 2015. "Business model innovation and business concept innovation as the context of incremental innovation and radical innovation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 142-155.
    19. René Bohnsack & Francesca Ciulli & Ans Kolk, 2021. "The role of business models in firm internationalization: An exploration of European electricity firms in the context of the energy transition," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(5), pages 824-852, July.
    20. Palo, Teea & Åkesson, Maria & Löfberg, Nina, 2019. "Servitization as business model contestation: A practice approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 486-496.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:25:y:2021:i:2:p:390-402. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.