Europe was leading the early phase of the steel technology transition away from coal in the first half of the current decade, but according to the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the momentum is slowing down.
This news comes after Swedish company Stegra experienced a funding shortfall. Stegra currently has a green steel plant under construction and needs more than US$1 billion ($1.42 billion) to cover additional costs.
Stegra is also a key investor in Northvolt, which is another company experiencing a funding shortfall partly due to a lack of financial support from the Swedish Government.
European nations such as Germany have been leading the world into the renewable energy age. However, more recently, that leadership has been taken on by China, as reported by the IEEFA.
Hydrogen Insight reports that 59 clean hydrogen projects began construction in 2025, with nearly half of them located in China. In China, 25 of the projects total around 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.
According to the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, the nation surpassed its green hydrogen target of 200,000 tonnes of operational capacity in 2025.
China, the world’s biggest steelmaker, recently announced the integration of a 1 million tonne per annum direct reduced iron plant – primarily running hydrogen. The plant will leverage coke oven gas as the process of gas, which is considered an industry first.
The IEEFA reports that unlike Chinese dominance in solar, electric vehicles, and batteries, China Baowu’s subsidiary Baosteel’s plant is using western technology. The facility uses Energiron DRI equipment – developed by Tenova and Danieli of Italy.
As it currently stands, Baosteel’s DRI plant has lower emissions, but is not considered “truly green”, as reported by the IEEFA.
Green hydrogen is a zero-carbon, sustainable fuel produced via water electrolysis using renewable energy, emitting zero greenhouse gases during production or use.
The International Energy Agency reports that it would make it possible to save 830 million tonnes of CO2 per year that originates when the gas is produced using fossil fuels.
Recently, Adelaide University researchers developed a ‘simple and scalable’ way to generate hydrogen with impure water, such as seawater and industrial wastewater.
As Mining.com.au reported, the university developed a protective coating for the catalysts in electrocatalytic systems that act like a smart gate. The coating, a type of polymer called an ionomer, lets through the ions necessary for the electrolysis of water, but blocks the harmful ions that attack and destroy the catalysts and the electrocatalytic system.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Unsplash
