The engineering group offers mineral-processing and materials-handling solutions and services to the mining industry through its Industrial Solutions business area.

The new climate strategy, based on the Paris Agreement, includes clear CO2 emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2050 covering thyssenkrupp's own production operations, the energy it purchases and its products.

To achieve these targets, among other things, the company is working on its Carbon2Chem project, which can covert steel mill emissions gases into valuable chemicals, as well as a so-called hydrogen route, which would replace coal with hydrogen as the reducing agent for blast furnaces in steel production. These two technologies are being funded by the German federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

thyssenkrupp will also continue work in the e-mobility sector, supplying battery production lines and special steels for electric motors, as well as on energy storage solutions.

Through its Climate Action Program for Sustainable Solutions (CAPS), the company aims to make its products carbon neutral. It is also working with European partners to produce fuel from biomass.

thyssenkrupp CEO Guido Kerkhoff is aware of the threats posed by anthropogenic climate change.

"As an industrial company with operations around the globe we are in a particularly good position to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable products and processes," he said.

Earlier this year, NGO CDP gave thyssenkrupp a high score in its assessment of whether companies have a clear strategy on improving their environmental performance.

Dr Donatus Kaufmann, thyssenkrupp board member responsible for technology, innovation, sustainability, legal and compliance, noted: "Our strategy for our steel operations alone will cut production-related emissions there by 80% by 2050. But if we are to achieve our climate targets, we need to make significantly more use of renewable energies.

"Also, there are no internationally harmonised financial incentives for investments in CO2-abatement technologies. These are basic requirements for making a real change."