EU Commission approves funding for largest industry decarbonisation project in Germany so far

Germany’s largest industry decarbonisation project to date has been approved for funding by the EU Commission, according to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). Steelmaker Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe will develop a new production process at a site in the western German city Duisburg which, by 2037, should run entirely on hydrogen energy, reported newspaper Die Welt. Total funding for the project is around 2 billion euros.  The project could save up to 3.5 million tonnes of carbon from being emitted every year, says the BMWK. “The plant in Duisburg is not only one of the biggest emitters of CO2 (…) It’s also a source of many jobs, which can be future-proofed with this project,” said Robert Habeck, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. 

Steel and iron production plants dominate in a list of the thirty most polluting industrial facilities in Germany. The most polluting facility belongs to Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, which emitted nearly 8 million tonnes of CO2 in the last year. Last month, the BMWK announced a subsidy program worth billions of euros to compensate energy-intensive companies for the extra costs of climate-friendly production, in an attempt to incentivise industry to move towards climate neutrality. Attempts to decarbonise industry are part of Germany’s target to be climate neutral by 2045.