The European Union is one of the largest steel producers in the world, second only to China. While steel is an essential material for the energy transition, the steel industry is a major environmental concern, accounting for around 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To tackle this problem, the EU is investing in cleaner and more sustainable technologies.
Currently, the EU has 12 of the 20 largest steelmakers in the world that use the green hydrogen technique to extract iron directly from the ore. This technique replaces the use of coal with hydrogen, an ecologically correct fuel. With this initiative, the EU is leading the way in the search for more sustainable solutions in the steel industry.
However, to meet the demand for green hydrogen production, larger amounts of wind energy are needed. According to the report of Bellona – European non-governmental organization working to promote sustainable solutions for energy and the environment – titled “Hydrogen DRI for Steel in a Resource-Constrained Europe“Producing enough green hydrogen for steel plants in countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania and Finland would require a significant amount of wind power. In fact, it would take more wind power than each of these countries has installed to date.
To achieve this ambitious target, the European Commission has established a plan called REPowerEU, which aims to reach a total of 510 GW of wind power and 592 GW of solar power by 2030. By the end of 2022, the 27 EU member countries had installed a total of 204 GW of wind power, including 16.75 GW of offshore wind power.
Furthermore, the EU has agreed to a target of 42.5% of hydrogen used by industry to be renewable by 2030. This means that the EU is committed to increasing green hydrogen production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the chemical industry, oil refining and green steel manufacturing.
The EU is leading the way in finding more sustainable solutions in the steel industry and is committed to increasing renewable energy production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in other areas of the industry.
