German steel industry calls for cheaper electricity, hydrogen, lead markets for green transition
Clean Energy Wire / Handelsblatt
Germany's steel-producing states and industry associations have called on the federal government to introduce measures for competitive energy prices, to ramp-up the hydrogen economy, and to create green lead markets driven by public procurement to support the industry on its transition to climate neutrality. The National Steel Action Plan was presented during the 2024 Steel Summit, where more than 350 representatives from politics, business and science discussed the challenges facing the industry in Germany.
"The aim is to support the transformation process in the steel industry and at the same time secure jobs and the competitiveness of the sector," the 11 states, including North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland and Bavaria, as well as the German Steel Federation and IG Metall wrote. Germany's steel industry faced "existential challenges in some cases" due to weak demand for low-carbon steel, comparatively high electricity prices and grid fees and "unfair international competition", their action plan reads.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is supporting manufacturer Thyssen-Krupp Steel with 700 million euros for its green transformation, Handelsblatt reported. The move is an attempt to save jobs in the area: of the 80,000 people in Germany employed in the steel industry, 25,000 are located in NRW. The industry itself, however, does not think efforts at a national level are enough to secure Germany as an industrial location in the long-term, according to Handelsblatt. "It is clearly necessary to create a steel pact at EU level in the first 100 days of the new European Commission," Dennis Grimm from Thyssen-Krupp Steel told the paper.
"Germany and the EU are global pioneers in the decarbonisation of the steel industry," economy minister Robert Habeck said at the summit. "German steel production is at the beginning of many relevant value chains and is therefore also an important driver for key industries such as the automotive and mechanical engineering sectors and their transformation." European steelmakers have been under pressure in recent years due to a global oversupply largely driven by Chinese manufacturers. Germany has proposed an industry standard for climate friendly steel. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal will receive 1.3 billion euros in subsidies for its green transformation.
