The European steel industry has welcomed the European Commission's recently launched European Green Deal although further policy and support are required to ensure competitiveness.
The European Union plans to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through key policies to cut emissions and invest in research and innovation for green technologies. The decarbonization and modernization of energy-intensive industries, such as steel, are essential, it says.
While it says the European industry needs "climate and resource frontrunners" to develop the first commercial applications of breakthrough technologies in key industrial sectors by 2030, steel makers say they require further investment to do this.
The EU's plan prioritizes the areas of clean hydrogen, other alternative fuels and energy storage as well as carbon capture, storage and utilization.
The European Commission (EC) will support clean steel breakthrough technologies leading to a zero-carbon steel making process by 2030 while the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) Innovation Fund will help to deploy such large-scale innovative projects.
But steelmakers have described the EU ETS as a "financial burden" linked to...