Blue Carbon Steel™
The Measurement Procedure Behind Hydrogen Steel
Blue Carbon Steel™ is a measurement procedure concept defined by Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. and American Katerra, LLC. It sets how the carbon footprint of each Hydrogen Steel tier is measured, verified, and disclosed, whether that tier is Green, Blue, Pink, Turquoise, or White Hydrogen Steel™. Hydrogen Steel is the research and development program. Blue Carbon Steel™ is the concept and the procedure behind it, so the name on every tier is backed by numbers.
Program and procedure
Hydrogen Steel is steel made with hydrogen, and each name tells you where the hydrogen came from:
- Green Hydrogen Steel™: hydrogen made with renewable electricity
- Blue Hydrogen Steel™: hydrogen made from natural gas, with the CO2 captured
- Pink Hydrogen Steel™: hydrogen made with nuclear power
- Turquoise Hydrogen Steel™: hydrogen split from methane, leaving solid carbon
- White Hydrogen Steel™: natural hydrogen recovered from underground
Other hydrogen sources can be added as they emerge, and Blue Carbon Steel™ applies to every one of them in the same way. No tier can be ordered today. When one can be supplied, it moves to our Products, and this procedure is how its numbers will be checked. Our guide to hydrogen steel explains the background. Each name is defined on our Hydrogen Steel page under Research & Development.
Two blue names, two roles
Blue Hydrogen Steel™ is the name of one tier: steel made with hydrogen derived from natural gas, with the CO2 captured. Blue Carbon Steel™ is the measurement procedure, and it applies to Blue Hydrogen Steel™ and to the other four names alike. A specification should name the tier and the measurement separately.
Green Hydrogen Steel™ and Blue Hydrogen Steel™ are registered trademarks of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Japan (Registration Nos. 7088848 and 7088849). Pink Hydrogen Steel™, Turquoise Hydrogen Steel™, and White Hydrogen Steel™ are trademarks of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd.; a trademark application is being prepared. All five are used as trademarks in the United States; no U.S. registration is claimed.
How the procedure works
1. Trace the hydrogen
Identify the hydrogen source behind the steel and record its carbon intensity in kg of CO2e per kg of hydrogen, measured from well to gate.
2. Measure the steel
Record the CO2e per tonne of the steel from the mill’s environmental product declaration (EPD), and tie each heat to its mill test report.
3. Disclose the package
Report the embodied carbon of the fabricated steel package through life cycle assessment, in the format the project needs.
Numbers before names
A name like Green or Blue Hydrogen Steel™ is an environmental claim. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides apply to claims made through product brand names, in business-to-business transactions as well as consumer marketing (16 CFR 260.1). The International Energy Agency has found that color terms for hydrogen are impractical as a basis for contracting decisions, and recommends emissions intensity instead (IEA, April 2023). Blue Carbon Steel™ follows the same logic. It measures the hydrogen in kg of CO2e per kg, using methods such as ISO/TS 19870 and benchmarks such as the 4.0 kg target of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Hydrogen Production Standard (DOE). It measures the steel per tonne and discloses both, so a name is used only where the numbers support it.
Green and Blue, together
Our approach pairs a concept and a procedure. Green Carbon Steel™ is the concept behind Green Steel, the lower-carbon structural steel you can specify today. Blue Carbon Steel™ is the measurement procedure behind Hydrogen Steel. Together they form the Green & Blue Carbon Steel™ approach of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. and American Katerra. We quantify carbon through life cycle assessment and report it as embodied carbon, so the same discipline runs through both.
Blue Carbon Steel™ FAQs
Is Blue Carbon Steel™ a product?
No. Blue Carbon Steel™ is a measurement procedure concept defined by Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. and American Katerra. It measures the five names of our Hydrogen Steel research and development program, and none of them can be ordered today. The product you can specify now is Green Steel, our lower-carbon structural steel.
How is Blue Carbon Steel™ different from Blue Hydrogen Steel™?
Blue Hydrogen Steel™ is the name of one tier: steel made with hydrogen derived from natural gas, with the CO2 captured. It is a registered trademark of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. in Japan (Registration No. 7088849). Blue Carbon Steel™ is the procedure that measures its carbon, and the carbon of the other four tiers.
Why is it called Blue Carbon Steel™ if it covers every color?
The name comes from the Green & Blue Carbon Steel™ approach of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. and American Katerra: Green Carbon Steel™ is the concept for lower-carbon steel today, and Blue Carbon Steel™ is the measurement procedure for Hydrogen Steel. The color in a Hydrogen Steel name describes the hydrogen. The “Blue” in Blue Carbon Steel™ names the procedure, and the procedure applies to every color.
Which names does Blue Carbon Steel™ cover?
All five Hydrogen Steel names: Green, Blue, Pink, Turquoise, and White Hydrogen Steel™, each named for its hydrogen source. Other hydrogen sources can be added to the same procedure as they emerge.
Is Blue Carbon Steel™ related to blue carbon steel cookware?
No. Blue carbon steel pans are cookware. Blue Carbon Steel™ is a measurement procedure concept of Yamaguchi Heavy Industries Ltd. and American Katerra for structural steel.
Inquiries About Blue Carbon Steel™
Have questions about Blue Carbon Steel™, or about how a Hydrogen Steel tier would be measured on your project? We are glad to explain the procedure, where each tier stands today, and what can be measured now with Green Steel. Talk to our team.