Why Steel's Decarbonization Bet Might Be Missing a Billion-Dollar Blind Spot with Jon Stewart and Tom Brown of Binding Solutions

Host: Alex Cameron, Founder & CEO, Decarb Connect
Guests: Jon Stewart, CEO and Tom Brown, Head of Business Development and Commercial Strategy, Binding Solutions

The steel industry accounts for roughly 8% of global emissions and has made some of the loudest net zero commitments in heavy industry. But talk to the mills privately and most will tell you they are not on track. The dominant solutions, hydrogen, carbon capture, EAF transition, are either years away, eye-wateringly expensive, or both.

Meanwhile, there's a supply chain vulnerability that almost nobody is talking about publicly: pellets. Every major decarb pathway for steel needs them. Producing them at scale costs a billion dollars and most of Europe buys from a handful of suppliers with almost no leverage. Today we're talking to the team at BSL about whether the industry is solving the wrong problems first, and what a lower-cost, modular alternative on something as fundamental as pellets can do for price and targets.

• Find out why the gap between published net zero roadmaps and what steel mills actually believe is achievable this decade is wider than most people assume.
• Explore why agglomeration, the pellet-making step, may offer more near-term commercial leverage than hydrogen or CCS, despite attracting a fraction of the policy attention and capital.
• Learn how a billion-dollar plant cost becomes a structural barrier that shapes who controls the global pellet supply chain, and why European mills are more exposed than they publicly acknowledge.
• Hear how a technology that works across both blast furnace and DRI pathways makes its case in an industry where most capital decisions are implicitly picking a winner.
• Find out about Binding Solutions strategic and financial investors as well as their path forward- and where value sits in deep-tech industrial business like this one.

Links:

· Follow Alex Cameron on LinkedIn and find how to get involved with the membership and work of Decarb Connect

· Connect with Jon Stewart, CEO

· Learn more about Tom Brown, Head of Commercial Strategy

· Check out a video about the team ‘s work with British Steel

· Read a paper by one of BSL’s scientists and a British Steel expert

· Join Alex and a network of hardtech investors and series B+ tech disruptors at Decarb TechInvest in Boston (September 2025)

Want to learn more about Decarb Connect?

We provide insights and introductions that derisk decision-making and support industrial leaders in deploying decarbonization and low carbon product strategy. Our global membership platform, events and facilitated introductions support commercial decarb planning and business models around the world. Our clients include the most energy-intensive industrials from cement, metals and mining, glass, ceramics, chemicals, O&G and many more along with technology disruptors, investors and advisors.

If you enjoyed this conversation, find out about our portfolio of matchmaking events in US, Canada, UK and Europe – or explore our Decarbonisation Leaders Network (DLN), and learn why more than 80 companies the energy-intensive ecosystem have joined to meet the right partners who can accelerate their net zero plans and why it’s the fastest growing network of its kind.

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