Green light for green steel

• SALCOS^® production launch as from the end of 2025 - Salzgitter AG confirms leading position in decarbonizing the steel industry
• Salzgitter AG’s Supervisory Board approves funds of € 723 million for implementing the first stage of the SALCOS^® - Salzgitter Low CO₂
• Public funding decision still open

In today’s meeting the Salzgitter AG Supervisory Board approved the Executive Board’s application to make own funds of € 723 million available for the first development stage of the SALCOS^®-project.
 
The early start to the measures that these funds permit will allow allegiance to the ambitious time plan for decarbonizing steel production. Along with the Salzgitter AG’s own funds, the company is counting on public start-up funding. The approval and appraisal process for these funds has not yet been fully concluded.
 
SALCOS^® is aimed at converting the integrated steelworks into low-carbon crude steel production in three stages over the period up until 2033. As part of the transformation, direct reduction plants and electric arc furnaces will be built and will then replace the blast furnaces and converters in stages. The transformation will enable the process that was formerly based on coking coal to be replaced by a new hydrogen-based route. Emissions savings of around 95 % a year are to be subsequently achieved, thereby avoiding approximately 1 % of Germany’s carbon emissions.

As Gunnar Groebler, Chief Executive Officer of Salzgitter AG, states: “We have set ourselves ambitious goals under our “Salzgitter AG 2030” corporate strategy. Today’s decision sends a strong signal that we have prepared the ground well with our strategy, while also underscoring our role as a pioneer in the decarbonization of the steel industry.
 
I am convinced that the timely implementation of SALCOS^® will generate competitive advantages for us in the green steel market. My warm thanks go to the Supervisory Board for its trust and its full support for us on our journey towards decarbonization, and our SALCOS^® project in particular. I would also like to thank the many employees in the Salzgitter Group for their outstanding commitment to date to SALCOS^®.”
 
The new facilities will enable us to produce 1.9 million tons of green steel a year. Customers from a range of industries are already expressing keen interest. As a result, the Salzgitter Group has already agreed possible deliveries in recent weeks with customers from various sectors, including household appliance manufacturers, the automotive industry, and re-rollers. Similarly, close co-operation in the process of qualifying steel grades is already under way today.
 
As Hasan Cakir, Chairman of the Group Works Council says: “SALCOS^® secures the future sustainability of Salzgitter as a steel location and its jobs, and proves that Salzgitter AG is innovative and is delivering the solutions to society’s pressing problems. The political decision-makers are required to set the right framework conditions in place in the near future to allow the transformation to green steel to progress.”
 
Along with the considerable share of its own funds totaling around € 723 million, Salzgitter AG is counting on public funding and consequently submitted the relevant grant applications some months ago – the final decisions are still pending, however.
 
“Having massively accelerated our transformation towards decarbonizing steel production, we hope that the funding decisions will now be taken promptly - so that we can make SALCOS^® a success as planned, and implement the entire project,” as Gunnar Groebler added.