Germany’s Bilstein agrees low-carbon deal with H2 Green Steel

German cold rolled steel producer Bilstein Group said April 17 that it has signed a seven-year agreement to source low-carbon crude steel from H2 Green Steel.

Bilstein — a producer of cold rolled steel strip for customers in industries like automotive, tooling and furnishings — is one of its first customers to sign an off-take agreement for green steel from Stockholm-headquartered H2 Green Steel.

Founded in 2020 to accelerate the decarbonization of the steel industry, H2 Green Steel is building its first steel plant, which will be powered by green hydrogen, in Boden, northern Sweden. The founder and largest shareholder of H2 Green Steel is Vargas, which is also co-founder and one of the larger shareholders in Swedish battery maker Northvolt.

The deliveries are planned start in 2026.

“The contract is an important milestone on the way to significantly reducing our carbon footprint and ensuring that a large part of our raw material sourcing is ‘green’ by the end of the decade,” Bilstein Group CEO Marc Oehler said in its statement, adding that hot rolled steel accounts for more than 90% of the footprint of Bilstein’s final product.

The two companies said they also intend to work together to develop steel grades, share best practices on reducing the carbon footprint and develop a circular model to take back scrap from Bilstein’s production sites to be recycled in H2 Green Steel’s operations.

Founded in 1911, Bilstein Group has production sites in Germany, the Czech Republic and the US producing customer-specific cold-rolled steel grades for a range of industries, including automotive, saw blade and tool manufacturing and furniture.

Author Ekaterina Bouckley, katya.bouckley@spglobal.com