Breakthrough technologies are processes that change our lives or the landscape of an industrial sector, bringing far-reaching consequences. Breakthrough technologies are particularly relevant to the pressing problem of climate change, offering solutions for storing green energy, for example, or the transformation from high to low emission, or even zero emission, technologies.

We are also intensively researching into breakthrough technologies for steel production in order to successively increase the use of green hydrogen in the steel production process over the long term and achieve carbon-neutral steel production by 2050.

The use of electric arc furnaces as a low carbon alternative to the traditional blast furnace LD route is an essential building block for the future decarbonization of the steel industry. We are planning to reduce our carbon emissions by a third as early as 2030 through the gradual shift to electric arc technology.

In the electric arc furnace hot sponge iron (HBI) rather than coal or coke is used to produce steel. Scrap and liquid pig iron are also added to the mix. HBI and scrap are melted down by an electric arc which reaches temperatures of over 3,000°C. The furnace is tilted to pour out the slag and tap the crude steel.

Green energy is the primary requirement for carbon-neutral steel production. Both for the implementation of a hybrid technology using electric arc furnaces and for a long-term technological transformation based on green hydrogen, it is necessary that electricity from renewable energy is available in sufficient quantities. This will make a major contribution to reducing our CO₂ emissions by around 30% from 2027.

Green hydrogen is seen as a promising future option for almost entirely decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors such as the steel industry. Hydrogen is completely carbon neutral when produced using green electricity, i.e., electricity generated using water, wind or solar power. The production and use of green hydrogen from renewable energy sources is one of the key technologies for reducing CO₂ emissions. With our research activities, we are among the key pioneers in being able to produce steel on the basis of green hydrogen in the long term.

The most important research projects include the EU lighthouse project "H2FUTURE" with partners VERBUND, Siemens, Austrian Power Grid, K1-MET and TNO at the Linz site for the production and use of "green" hydrogen on a large industrial scale, as well as the test plant "SuSteel" at the Donawitz site carbon neutral steel production.

Companies are increasingly paying attention to sustainability indices. The listings confirm the clear commitment to sustainability and climate protection from independent international sources. Only companies judged to be leaders in their industries according to long-term economic, ecological, and social criteria are included in these stock exchange listings.

We have been listed in the FTSE4Good since 2020 and rated positively in numerous ratings, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Inclusion in the internationally most renowned sustainability indices once again confirms our active contribution to climate and environmental protection as well as in the areas of social responsibility and governance.

The technological transition to green production faces the entire European steel industry with major challenges. We are currently in a transformation process from coal-based blast furnace route to steel production using green electricity. The conversion from coal to green electricity is a vital step on the path to climate-neutral steel production.

In the future, we will therefore focus - as part of a hybrid concept at the Linz and Donawitz sites - on the parallel operation of a steel production using green electricity to the coal-based blast furnace route