On May 31, 2023, Dr. Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics; Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy and Olaf Lies, Minister of Economics of Lower Saxony visited Salzgitter AG.
Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, said that Salzgitter AG's commitment to Germany as a business location, to jobs and to a European value chain by converting its production facilities could not be valued highly enough.
"It was not clear that a steel company would be at the forefront of the movement," he said.
"Here is the symbol of the green transition, here is the lighthouse," added Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.
The EU commissioner went on to say that Germany's support program for green hydrogen procurement, "H2Global," will be linked to the new European Hydrogen Bank. This would allow Europe to purchase hydrogen imports with "one voice" - without overbidding competition.
"We need a new Germany speed also in the development of a hydrogen infrastructure," explains Gunnar Groebler, CEO of Salzgitter AG.
Among other things, he said, there needs to be a pipeline to Salzgitter. He said he had taken away "positive signals" from the talks with the politicians.
Olaf Lies, praised Salzgitter AG for having taken the path to climate-neutral steel production early and consistently.
"SALCOS is a strong signal for Lower Saxony and North German industry and the energy sector. Lower Saxony has a great opportunity to become the No. 1 hydrogen state."
