The confirmation came a week after the EU Commission signed off on the package, which will support installation of a direct reduction plant and two melting units. 

"Today is a good day for the climate, the green industry in Germany, for the Duisburg location, for the employees. I am delighted at being able to give thyssenkrupp definitive formal confirmation of funding totaling around EUR2 billion today,” said Robert Habeck, Germany's vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action. 

Bernhard Osburg, chairman of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG’s executive board, said the project will pioneer the decarbonization of the steel value chain and drive the development of a hydrogen infrastructure. 

"We expressly thank the German government and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia for the substantial funding of our tkH2 Steel project,” he said. “Through our decision for the direct reduction plant in Duisburg we are building up technological expertise that will play a role in maintaining European technological competence.” 

thyssenkrupp earlier this year placed an order with SMS group for the equipment, which includes the 2.5-million-metric-ton, hydrogen-powered direct reduction plant, the melting units and ancillary equipment.

The order, worth EUR1.8 billion, is SMS group’s single largest order ever. The new plant is to start up in 2026.