Höganäs Announces Biochar Investment in 2024 Sustainability Report

Höganäs is releasing its 2024 sustainability report, highlighting key progress across climate action, safety, responsible sourcing, and diversity and inclusion. One of the major announcements in the report is a strategic investment in biochar, following successful full-scale trials, to enable a significant shift in sponge iron production in Höganäs, Sweden. 

By 2026, Höganäs aims to start replacing 20 percent of fossil coal with biochar, a renewable carbon source that plays a central role in the company’s climate roadmap and ambition to decarbonize production. 

The investment includes a new biochar receiving facility and supporting infrastructure at the Höganäs site, with construction set to begin in Q2 2025. To further accelerate the transition, two R&D projects have been launched: one to maximize the use of biochar in the reduction process, and another to further explore fossil-free reduction technologies.

“This investment supports our customers in reducing the carbon footprint of their products and marks an important step toward near-zero direct emissions in our own production by 2030,” says Henrik Ager, CEO of Höganäs AB (pictured above). “I am also proud of the progress we have made in safety during 2024. With a 52 percent reduction in recordable injuries, we have clear proof of what can be achieved through focused, company-wide efforts”.

Höganäs continued to advance inclusion and responsible business practices in 2024. Manager training on unconscious bias was completed, female executive managers rose to 38 percent, and supplier engagement deepened through targeted sustainability dialogues as part of the Responsible Sourcing Program.

“This report is our first step toward CSRD reporting, and more importantly, it reflects real progress,” says Catharina Nordeman, vice president group sustainability, Höganäs AB. “Together, we are building a more sustainable company.”

These efforts reflect Höganäs’ vision of driving positive change through material innovation and contributing to the transition toward lower-emission solutions, with the ambition to become the globally preferred partner for sustainable powder materials.

hoganas.com/en/sustainability/sustainability-report/