Hatch Ltd.

This award recognises a global engineering firm for designing the industrial‑scale infrastructure needed to decarbonise steelmaking. In July 2025, Hatch was selected by the NeoSmelt consortium – comprising BHP, BlueScope, Mitsui, Rio Tinto and Woodside – to design Australia’s largest electric smelting furnace, a pilot plant that aims to demonstrate that Pilbara iron ore can be processed into lower‑carbon molten iron using direct‑reduced‑iron electric smelting furnace (DRI‑ESF) technology.

The project, which commenced feasibility studies in the second quarter of 2025, represents one of the most advanced attempts to break the emissions‑intensity link between Australian iron ore and the global steel industry, a sector responsible for approximately 7% of the world’s energy‑related CO₂ emissions. Beyond the NeoSmelt project, Hatch has embedded its own decarbonisation targets into its business model, with a goal of net‑zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and net‑zero Scope 3 emissions by 2050. In 2025, the firm was also appointed by GravitHy to deliver the Front‑End Engineering Design for a low‑carbon iron plant in Fos‑sur‑Mer, France, a €2.5 billion facility that will produce 2 million tonnes per year of hot‑briquetted iron using green hydrogen, reducing CO₂ emissions by more than 90% compared to conventional blast furnaces.

By providing the engineering and project delivery expertise that turns low‑carbon steel concepts into bankable, real‑world facilities, Hatch has positioned itself as an indispensable enabler of heavy‑industry decarbonisation. For these contributions, Hatch Ltd receives this recognition.