European Commission - Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
European Commission - Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
01/20/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/20/2025 07:08
EU provides €175 million to support research, innovation and just transition of steel and coal sectors
The European Commission adopted a decision on the financing of the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) with a total budget of €175 million for 2025, to support collaborative research in the steel and coal sectors.
This will include two main calls ("Big Tickets") of €100 million for steel and €35 million for coal that will be launched in February 2025 to fund research for breakthrough technologies leading to near-zero-carbon steelmaking, as well as projects for managing the just transition for coal mines. An additional standard annual call, worth €40 million, to cover both coal and steel is set to open in June 2025.
Coal and steel continue to play a significant role for industries, while at the same time steel is essential for many renewable energy technologies and as such is of strategic importance. The RFCS aligns with the European Green Deal 's objective of achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050 and complements the Just Transition Mechanism . It promotes excellence in research and innovation and supports Europe's competitiveness, innovation, decarbonisation efforts and security, as emphasised in the Report by Mario Draghi on the future of European competitiveness .
Background
The Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) supports the just transition of the coal sector and coal mining regions, and aims at improving health and safety as well as minimising the environmental impacts during the process of repurposing of former mines and related infrastructure. It also contributes to new, sustainable and low-carbon steelmaking and finishing processes, and supports advanced steel grades and applications, resource conservation, environment protection and circular economy practices, as well as improved working conditions.
As part of the RFCS work programme for 2025, the "Big Tickets" Call for Steel, which is expected in February 2025 with a budget of €100 million, will cover pilots and demonstrators for breakthroughs in clean steel making technologies, such as carbon capture storage and usage, process intensification, and CO2 neutral iron ore reduction. At the same time, the "Big Tickets" Call for Coal, with a budget of €35 million, will include pilots and demonstrators to support the re-purposing of closed coal mines, such as mine, water, or land monitoring. It will also cover the treatment and restoration of waste and spoil, the energy recovery and the monitoring of methane emissions, and materials recycling, including recovery of critical raw materials. Beneficiaries will be universities, research centres, and private companies.