Steel in Europe's industrial transition

What is being built in European steel

28 projects on file — 11 running, 16 announced or funded, 1 cancelled — as of 2026-09-20

• Blastr InkooPendingInkoo, FI — no public funding on fileby 2026-09-20
• GravitHy Fos sur MerPendingFos-Sur-Mer, FR — no public funding on fileby 2026-09-20
• Liberty Steel Dunkerque DRI plantPendingDunkerque, FR — no public funding on fileby 2026-09-20
• SSAB LuleåPendingLuleå, SE — no public funding on fileby 2026-09-20
• SSAB OxelösundPendingOxelösund, SE — no public funding on fileby 2026-09-20

All 28 projects →

What does steel depend on

6 technologies, 4 materials, 6 constraints — as of 2026-06-18

• CO2 transport and storagetechnologyearly-commercial — Captured CO2 from Brevik is shipped and stored under the Norwegian Longship chain, which is the first full chain in Europe to take third-party industrial CO2. One chain in service is early-commercial.2025-06-18
• Direct reduction with an electric furnacetechnologydemonstration — Full-scale units are under construction in Europe and none is operating: 2.5 Mt at Duisburg, 1.9 Mt at Salzgitter, and the Boden site. Under construction is demonstration, the same reading applied to the oxyfuel kilns in cement.2023-07-20
• Hydrogen direct reductiontechnologypilot — The HYBRIT pilot at Luleå made the world's first hydrogen-reduced sponge iron in 2021, around 100 tonnes of it, and no full-scale unit is yet running on hydrogen anywhere in Europe. One unit being tested is pilot.2021-06-21
• Renewable hydrogen supplytechnologydemonstration — The largest unit built for a European steel site, 740 MW at Boden, has all 37 of its modules in place and has not been commissioned. Built and not operating is demonstration.2026-04-04
• Carbon capture on blast-furnace gastechnologypilot — The DMX unit on blast-furnace gas at Dunkirk is a pilot and has run stably since 2023; no full-scale capture unit is operating or under construction on a European blast furnace. Cement reached early-commercial on one operating industrial plant, and steel has none — the two readiness levels are different facts about different applications, which is why they are different nodes.2024-03-14

All 16 dependencies →

Which EU rules matter for steel

10 of 177 tracked measures are in this sector's view, ordered by what they cost or grant it — as of 2026-08-21

• Free carbon allowances for European steel are being withdrawnEuropean steel makers lose their free allowances on a fixed schedule that reaches zero in 2038, which costs €2.58 per tonne of hot metal at today's carbon price and more every year after that.
• EU grants for making iron without coal€250 million has been awarded from the Innovation Fund to European steel projects that reduce iron ore without coal.
• Public contracts must buy low-carbon steelFrom 2029, public buyers have to require steel that meets the low-carbon and Union-origin rules the act sets, in the contracts the act covers.
• A quarter of the steel in public projects must be low-carbonFrom 2029, at least a quarter of the steel used in the buildings, infrastructure and vehicles the act covers has to be low-carbon steel.
• Oil and gas producers must provide somewhere to put the CO2Europe's oil and gas producers have to open, between them, enough permanent CO2 storage to meet the Union's target for 2030, each taking a share in proportion to what it produces.

All 10 measures →

What EU rules and money support in steel

€3.3 bn committed across 4 allocations; 1 allocation withdrawn — as of 2024-01-22

• EU grants for making iron without coal€250 m of the €3.3 bn committed to this sector was awarded under it, to 1 tracked project. Eligibility ongoing.