Modi Govt to roll out ‘Green Steel Mission’ with Rs 15,000 crore support

The Central Government has announced that the Ministry of Steel is preparing ‘Green Steel Mission’ for helping the Steel Industry to reduce carbon emission and progress towards the Net Zero Target. The government support for the green steel mission will be of Rs 15000 Crore.

Ministry of Steel held that the Mission includes PLI Scheme for Green Steel, incentives for use of renewable energy and mandates for Government agencies to buy Green Steel. The National Green Hydrogen Mission, spearheaded by the MNRE Ministry, integrates the steel sector into the broader goal of producing and using green hydrogen, contributing to the decarbonisation of steel production.

In this regard, a Report on ‘Greening the Steel Sector in India: Roadmap and Action Plan’ on the basis of the recommendations of 14 Task Forces constituted by Ministry of Steel on various key levers of decarbonisation of steel sector, was released recently.

Further, the ‘Taxonomy of Green Steel for India’ was released on December 12, 2024.  “In this the Green Steel and Green star rating of the steel have been defined.  The Steel Scrap Recycling Policy further complements these efforts by increasing the availability of domestically generated scrap, thus promoting resource efficiency,” said the official statement.

The Ministry has released the Taxonomy for Green Steel on 12th December, 2024 to provide standards for defining and categorizing the low emission steel, facilitating the green transition of the steel industry. It provides a framework for production of green steel, creation of market for green steel and seeking financial support.

The MNRE Ministry has launched National Green Hydrogen Mission for green hydrogen production and usage. The steel sector is also a stakeholder in the Mission and has been allocated budgetary support of Rs. 455 crores for implementation of pilot projects in iron & steel sector under the Mission up to Financial Year 2029-30.

Under this mission, Ministry of Steel has awarded two Pilot Projects to produce Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) using 100 % Hydrogen in vertical shaft and one Pilot Project to use of hydrogen in existing Blast Furnace to reduce coal/ coke consumption in October.

The ministry held that pilot projects for injection of Green Hydrogen in existing vertical shaft based DRI making unit to partially substitute the natural gas are also being explored.