Henrik Henriksson

Henrik Henriksson is CEO of H2 Green Steel, which is building the world’s first large-scale green steel plant. Located in Sweden and on track to open in 2025, the plant will use green hydrogen to replace coal in the steelmaking process, decarbonizing one of the world’s dirtiest industries.

What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?

The world definitely needs a global price on carbon. The sooner policymakers put a global price on carbon, the sooner polluters will have to pay for emissions and we will see an increase in the pace of change. The Emission Trading System in Europe could be a role model. It took a while to implement, but together with the Paris-aligned Science Based Targets, it offers a framework that will ensure companies take steps to transform to sustainable products and services at scale and speed.

Where should climate activism go in the next year?

I would encourage activists to look beyond CO2. The Planetary Boundaries Framework will likely be an eye-opener for many, shedding light on other areas of concern such as water, biodiversity, and soil.

What is a climate technology that isn’t getting the attention or funding it deserves?

We should pay more attention to residential and district heating of our homes. Natural gas is still burned at incredible rates and volumes, which makes no sense when there are other, more energy-efficient systems available, like electric air-to-water heat pumps, and district heating that uses biofuels or waste as input to produce heat or cooling. Sewage water can also be used to fuel biogas buses for public transport. Six hundred toilets can fuel a city bus for a full year. This is low hanging fruit, and it surprises me that we are not moving faster to implement these solutions.

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