Merz calls for steel strategy amid industry setbacks and green transition challenges
Clean Energy Wire / Dlf
Germany needs a “robust” and “reliable” steel strategy if it is to maintain a domestic industry and move towards sustainable production in the longer term, said German chancellor Friedrich Merz during a visit to the steel-producing state of Saarland. Preserving a domestic steel sector is in Germany’s “strategic interest”, noted Merz, adding that he was in talks with other steel-producing locations in the country.
The industry is facing major challenges, including competition from China, comparatively high energy costs and US tariffs. To boost the sector, the government is “working on competitive framework conditions” and is “promoting the transition to climate-friendly production,” according to a chancellery statement.
Germany’s ambitions to decarbonise steelmaking and use green hydrogen to help clean up industry more broadly suffered a recent blow when steelmaker ArcelorMittal dropped plans to convert two plants to climate-friendly production. Vice chancellor and finance minister Lars Klingbeil had called for a steel summit, adding that green steel was key for the country to maintain a strong industrial base. The minister is currently in the US for talks with the government and told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the steel tariffs would be a key point of discussion. These were not part of a recent trade deal between the EU and the US, and chancellor Merz said talks continue on possible quotas under which exports can be made without excessive tariffs.
The German state must use its purchasing power to boost the uptake of climate-friendly industry products like green steel and cement by quickly introducing binding climate criteria for public procurement, Sabine Nallinger, chairwoman of the CEO Alliance for Climate and Economy, recently told Clean Energy Wire.
