TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024: Boston Metal

Steel manufacturing accounts for 10% of annual global CO2 emissions, so decarbonization can’t come fast enough. Boston Metal’s patented molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) solution takes the coal out of steelmaking, replacing the most carbon-intensive manufacturing steps (e.g., coking) with a process that produces molten ore with renewable electricity and generates no CO2 emissions. The company unveiled the first commercial application of its technology in March, when it opened a facility in Brazil that will recover high-value metals from mining waste. “The challenge with everything in decarbonization and the industrial space more broadly is always how fast things can be built or scaled,” says Adam Rauwerdink, senior vice president of business development for Boston Metal. The startup, spun out of MIT, aims to license its MOE technology to manufacturers by 2026 to produce “green steel.” That goal drew closer last year, when Boston Metal got $262 million from investors including Aramco Ventures, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, and ArcelorMittal, the world’s second largest steelmaker.