About the Clean Steel Partnership

The Clean Steel Partnership (CSP) aims to decarbonise the European steel sector and transform it into a vital, sustainable and circular industry. It tackles two major challenges: fighting against climate change and ensuring sustainable growth for the EU. The CSP is a European co-programmed public-private Partnership established between ESTEP – as the private entity – and the European Commission in the context of Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry and Space) of the Horizon Europe funding programme and the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.

The transition towards climate-neutral steel production and circular economy is not only based on technological innovation but also on a socio-economic approach. The Clean Steel Partnership’s mission is a steel industry driven proactive adjustment of the future skills based on demands developed by the industry and for the industry.

The Launchpad

In June 2021, ESTEP and the European Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the Clean Steel Co-Programmed Partnership to be implemented as part of the Horizon Europe Programme for research and innovation together with a dozen of other co-programmed partnerships.The MoU expresses the intention of the European Commission and the ESTEP members to achieve climate neutrality and their engagement to reach the goals of the European Green Deal.

The Partnership Goals

The general objective of the CSP is to develop technologies at a high readiness level (TRL8) to reduce the CO2 emissions stemming from EU steel production by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels by 2050, ultimately leading to climate neutrality, preserving the competitiveness and viability of the EU steel industry, making sure that EU production will be able to meet the growing EU demand for steel products.

The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

The European steel industry is on the verge of a great transformation to become climate neutral and circular by 2050. The Clean Steel Partnership Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) document describes in detail the Partnership’s collaborative approach to delivering the technological and socio-economic innovation that is essential to its changeover.

In the SRIA, the ESTEP community outlines the research and innovation needed to enable a climate neutral, circular and competitive steel industry in 2050. In the period 2018-2020, the ESTEP community has worked together to develop this document with regular interaction with the European Commission and other stakeholders. It outlines its vision for securing one of the most important EU strategic value chains with less dependence on fossil industry and feedstock, a smart usage of resources and the realisation of a circular economy model. In 2024, mid-term of the 2021-2027 CSP, the ESTEP community carried out a thorough update of the SRIA which takes into account the most recent developments in European policies and technologies, in particular digitalization.

The Funding of the Clean Steel Partnership

The funding of the CSP is a unique setting due to synergies between two public financial pillars, the Horizon Europe (HEU) programme and the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), and the private steel sector. The HEU and RFCS budgets together amount to EUR 700 mln over the period 2021-2027, at least matched by the steel sector, expected EUR 1000 mln.

Clean Steel Partnership Events

29/03/2023 - 30/03/2023

ESTEP 2023 Dissemination Event

SSSA - Pisa (I)

Dissemination Event Pisa

06/06/2023 - 07/06/2023

2023 ESTEP & CSP Information Days

Krakow (PL)

Info Days Krakow

03/10/2023 - 05/10/2023

ESTEP 2023 annual event - workshop on Circular Economy

CELSA - Barcelona (E)

ESTEP Annual Event 2023

04/09/2024 - 05/09/2024

ESTEP & CSP Awareness Event

Praha (CZ)

28/10/2024 - 31/10/2024

2024 ESTEP annual event (Circular Economy & hydrogen) + 20th ESTEP anniversary

Linz (AT)

CSP Projects

Research and Innovation (R&I) projects of the CSP are aligned with major areas of intervention (AoI):

· Carbon Direct Avoidance (CDA)

· Smart Carbon Usage (SCU)

o Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (SCU-CCUS)

o Process Integration (SCU-PI)

· Circular Economy (CE)

and an overarching and enabling area covering Digitalization and Social Innovation.

Twelve technological building blocks (BBs) are available for composing the R&I objectives of the projects. A three-stage approach has been adopted along the 2021-2027 timeline, including 2 sets of 2 demonstrator projects, showing CO2 emission reduction potential of at least 50% and 80%, respectively.

Main documents of CSP

SRIA

Author

ESTEP

Date

07/07/2023

File Size

5.2 MB

Format

pdf

Download

Forthcoming HEU calls

Author

Date

07/07/2023

File Size

Format

Download

Memorandum of Understanding

Author

Date

17/04/2024

File Size

13 MB

Format

pdf

Download

Clean Steel Partnership Scoreboard (status October 2024, 6 projects in GA preparation)

32

Number of projects

171.6

Total EU contribution

Million €

9.0

average project size

Total in million €

>200

Number of participants

Total no. of entities

>60%

EU steel production representation

prod. by CSP benef./ total EU steel production

List of CSP projects

MaxH2DR

Category

HEU CSP

Date

01/06/2022

Maximise H2 Enrichment in Direct Reduction Shaft Furnaces

About the Clean Steel Partnership

The Launchpad

The Partnership Goals

The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

Read more about breakthrough technologies including hydrogen

The Funding of the Clean Steel Partnership

Clean Steel Partnership Events

Events in CSP section

CSP Projects

Main documents of CSP

SRIA

Forthcoming HEU calls

Memorandum of Understanding

Clean Steel Partnership Scoreboard (status October 2024, 6 projects in GA preparation)

32

171.6

9.0

>200

>60%

List of CSP projects

MaxH2DR

GreenHeatEAF

TransZeroWaste

REMFRA

PureScrap

DiGrees

NANO-S-MART

E-ECO-Downstream

ZEROSTEEL

MOWSES

CISMA

ZHyRON

HiYield

Dust2Value

MEDALS

RecHycle

ModHEATech

CAESAR

HyTecHeat

HYDREAMS

MODIPLANT

AgiFlex

TWINGHY

FullH2Reheat

H2PlasmaRed

SmartChain