- LeadIT report points to sharp drop in green projects in CY’25
- Weak steel market, high electricity prices in EU impact green transition
- India and China ramping up green pilots, Asia in focus
Morning Brief:The pace of investments in green steel and announcement of green steel and green iron projects worldwide slowed down considerably in 2025, as per latest data from the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT). Launched by Sweden and India at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019, LeadIT unites governments and companies committed to achieving net-zero emissions in the heavy industry sector.
New announcements captured in the LeadIT Green Steel Tracker (GST) have fallen from a peak of 15 projects in 2021 to just two in 2025. The GST only covers primary steel production, not secondary production. Also, it takes into account projects that have an 85% potential of GHG reductions, whether through the H2-DR route, or electric smelting technology or BF-BOF with CCUS.
Decline in EU
The rapid decline in new green steel projects has been attributed to the decline in announcements, as well as postponements, in the EU. The EU has been at the forefront of green steel projects since 2019, with the number spiking in 2021. However, weak economic conditions and high energy prices and inflation impacted the EU steel industry in 2025, thereby halting the progress of green steel projects.
Notably, paused or postponed projects were largely concentrated in the EU. ArcelorMittal announced in late 2024 that it was delaying final investment decisions on green steel projects across Europe, and in mid-2025 the company announced that it was cancelling two major green steel projects in Germany, with projects in Spain and France paused or postponed because high electricity costs and the unviability of green hydrogen as a viable fuel.
Other European steelmakers have also cited the unavailability of green hydrogen at expected costs as delaying decarbonisation plans. Thyssenkrupp has also put on hold a tender to purchase low-carbon hydrogen due to expectations that prices would be significantly higher than planned for a 10-year contract.
India’s presence
For the very first time an Indian company has entered the tracker. JSW Steel’s H2-DRI facility in Karnataka has entered pilot phase.
In December 2025, ArcelorMittal announced three new renewable energy projects in India, representing a total nominal capacity of 1 GW (solar and wind). Electricity will be supplied to AM/NS India (Hazira steelworks), and combined with the 975 MW of solar and wind capacity already installed in Andhra Pradesh will cover 35% of Hazira’s increased electricity consumption in 2028.
In December, SAIL partnered with Primetals Technologies to integrate hydrogen gas injection technology at its Bokaro blast furnace (BF). The company developing technology to use green hydrogen and carbon monoxide to produce DRI with financing for a demonstration plant coming from the Ministry of Steel.
The board of Tata Steel approved the start of engineering and regulatory process to set up a 1 mnt/year HIsarna plant in Jamshedpur, to produce hot metal from iron ore using coal powder.
These projects will also obviously enter the GST in the years to come.
Asia & China
Since 2020, projects announced in Asia entered the tracker, with the number sharply rising in 2022 and 2023. However, project announcements seem to have declined in 2025.
HBIS’ H2-DRI project and Baotu’s CCUS project for BF are already in the qualified companies’ list of LeadIT which has over 60 companies, around 40 of which are from Europe.
In 2026
It is expected that more projects from China and India will enter the GST in the coming years, but all eyes now are on the commissioning of Stegra’s Boden Plant in Sweden in 2026 which, after facing substantial challenges and delays, will be the largest facility globally to use green H2-DRI combined with EAF-produced steel – one of the main technology routes now being pursued to decarbonise primary steel production. In its first phase, the Stegra plant will ramp up to producing 2.5 mnt/year of green steel, and by 2030 the company is targeting 5 mnt.
However, going forward, the pace of green steel progress in the EU will depend not only on steel market conditions but also on energy prices and the viability of green H2 as a fuel.
