The European Commission on Friday approved €1.3 billion in state aid to support ArcelorMittal S.A.'s decarbonization steel production projects in Germany under the Recovery and Resilience Facility framework.
"This €1.3 billion German measure enables ArcelorMittal to decarbonize its steel production sites of Bremen and Eisenhuttenstadt through the use of hydrogen. By making steelmaking greener, it helps to achieve the EU's target of climate neutrality by 2050," Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said.
The grant will support the construction of the company's "direct reduction plant" and "three new electric arc furnaces," which will replace existing coal-based blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces used in the production of crude steel. The new installations are expected to start operating in 2026 and to produce 3.8 million tons of green crude steel per year, the Commission shared.