ArcelorMittal receives confirmation of national grant for decarbonisation

Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck has ceremoniously awarded ArcelorMittal in Eisenhüttenstadt with a national grant of more than 1.3 billion euros for decarbonisation of the sites at Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt.

The total sum of investment at the sites in Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt according to ArcelorMittal will be approximately 2.5 billion euros. The grant by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs of around 1.3 billion euros is co-financed by the state of Bremen with 251 million euros for the direct reduction system in Bremen. “With the confirmation of the national grant, we have secured part of the costs which we will have to incur for the construction and operation of new systems for decarbonisation”, says Dr Thomas Bünger, CEO of ArcelorMittal Flat Products Germany.
According to Dr Bünger, the corporation already cooperates and partners with potential hydrogen suppliers like energy provider EWE and organisations like Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) in order to prepare for the next steps. He also says that intensive work is being carried out in the area of social transformation, as new professions are emerging as a result of new systems and changes in production technology. ArcelorMittal intends to replace two blast furnaces (one each in Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt) with electric arc furnaces and a direct reduction system by 2030. The new systems are intended to use green hydrogen as soon as it is available at internationally competitive prices and in sufficient quantities. This way, up to 5.8 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year, while producing 3.8 million tonnes of carbon-reduced steel. Internationally competitive energy prices and sufficient available amounts of green hydrogen would remain an important factor enabling ArcelorMittal to reach a positive final investment decision by mid-2025 and to actually implement the planned transformation of steel production. At the same time, the establishment of green leading markets – for example within construction and the automotive industry – would be important in order to give carbon-reduced steel a competitive edge.
Source: ArcelorMittal