From KlimaNachrichten

By KlimaNachrichten Editor

Admittedly, we are a bit undecided about what verdict we should give to the Tagesschau podcast 11Km on the topic of “Green Steel”.

It is certainly commendable that an overview of the situation in Germany is given. What is which company currently doing?
And there are big differences. Salzgitter AG has already started converting a blast furnace to hydrogen. ThyssenKrupp is still considering, and ArcelorMittal has abandoned plans to convert its plants in Germany to hydrogen.

Somehow, however, the editors of the podcast forget the elephant in the room and that is green hydrogen. Although it is rightly stated that there is too little of it, it is not that this little hydrogen is significantly more expensive than grey hydrogen.
People are more concerned that there may not be enough green electricity, but less so about the affordability of green hydrogen.

The editors also did not understand how to decipher the language of the managers of the corporations. Whenever they say that it is a task of “politics as a whole” and “society as a whole”, they mean subsidies that they would like to have.
So, the “task” is to pay for a business that would otherwise not be competitive.
In this case, not only aid for the restructuring of production, which ArcelorMittal rejects, but also aid for green hydrogen, should it actually be available in sufficient quantities.

However, it becomes bizarre when a trade unionist threatens ArcelorMittal that they have a social duty.
As if Germany were the only location of the group. What world do such people live in?

Basically, the conclusion had already been reached recently by the Federal Court of Auditors and thus hit the bull’s eye. Green hydrogen will become a permanent subsidy.
We reported.

At school, a teacher would probably have written under such a paper, unfortunately slightly off topic. 11km claims to deal with a topic in depth.
Here, however, we only snorkeled in shallow water.

The podcast and an accompanying Panorama report can be found in the ARD media library.

Politicians seem to have a completely different solution in mind.
In order to dampen the price disadvantage, the EU Commission is considering increasing tariffs and reducing the import quota.

Deutschlandfunk:

The EU Commission has officially confirmed its plans to protect the European steel industry, which have already been announced. The Brussels authority proposes to increase import duties from 25 to around 50 percent, as EU Industry Commissioner Séjourné announced.

In addition, the quota for steel imports from abroad is to be halved. Producers in the European Union are under economic pressure due to weak demand, high energy costs and competition from the Far East. Séjourné stressed that the aim was to save European steel producers and jobs.

Before the new rules can come into force, the European Parliament and the EU states must agree. Great Britain demanded clarification from the EU Commission on the impact of steel import quotas on British producers. Norway, however, assumes that it is not affected by the European Union’s proposal.

Saarland’s Prime Minister Rehlinger also has tariffs in mind.

Tagesschau:

Saarland’s Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) also supports the demand for import tariffs. In the report from Berlin, she said that steel produced here in Germany must be given its chance. If the industry in this country has to fight against dumping prices, then that is not fair. It would be wrong to break things now that could never be made to work again afterwards