German government launches promotion of green steel

Germany’s environment ministry launched in December its “Decarbonisation of Industries” support programme, which aims to reduce emissions that go with industrial production processes.

The programme is part of the government’s Climate Protection Plans 2030 and 2050, and amounts to €1 billion ($1.23 billion) that will be distributed to different purposes until the end of 2023.

In this context, the ministry staged a dialogue with representatives of the steel, cement, lime, chemicals and nonferrous metals industries last month. As part of the digital event, the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association presented its project entitled “Innovation Cluster Hydrogen Steel (HySteel) – low-emission steel production with green hydrogen”.

The aim of the project is to create an innovation platform for building a hydrogen economy in Germany in order to advance the production of “green” steel. It will receive around €400,000 in support from the environment ministry, Kallanish learns from a statement.

“Coking coal is out of time,” state secretary Jochen Flasbarth said. “The steel industry urgently needs green hydrogen based on renewable energies to be able to produce steel without harmful climate gases. HySteel brings together for the first time players along the entire value chain.” This network will include steelmakers, electrolysis operators, renewable electricity providers, grid operators and research institutes.

One project along these lines is Salzgitter’s Pro DRI, which earlier last year already received support of €5 million until end-2023 from the federal research ministry.