China turns green steel dream into nightmare

Friday 27 February 2026

Roll the tape.

Iron-ore giant Fortescue is speeding up its switch to green iron because CEO Dino Otranto told investors that the Pilbara must help China decarbonise steelmaking in order to stay competitive.

Otranto said on the company’s earnings call that work on Fortescue’s Green Metal project at Christmas Creek is going well and that the first production is expected this year.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.