RFCS-2022-CSP-Big Tickets for Steel

Proposals have to show that the expected project results directly contribute to the relevant operational objectives, KPIs and 2024-targets of the Clean Steel Partnership (Table 18, pp. 80 of SRIA) and to the European Green Deal.

Each proposal shall include an assessment of anticipated industrial, economic, social and environmental benefits (Art. 26 of Council Decision 2008/376/EC, “Content of proposals”).

The European Green Deal Communication of the European Commission is the European growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use.

The Communication also states that all Union actions and policies should pull together to help the Union achieve a successful and just transition towards a sustainable future.

Within the European Green Deal objectives, applicants to the RFCS Calls should consider the following elements when preparing their proposals:

• Energy-intensive industries, such as steel [...] are indispensable to Europe’s economy, as they supply several key value chains. The decarbonisation and modernisation of this sector is essential.
• The Commission will support clean steel breakthrough technologies leading to a zero-carbon steel making process by 2030.

The latest (2011-2017) Monitoring and Assessment of the RFCS Programme report highlights the major challenges for the European coal and steel industry: (i) to cut greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) to make sustainable use of energy and resources, and (iii) to develop new competitive, high-performance products and processes.

The RFCS package adopted on 19 July 2021 is in line with the Von der Leyen Commission's objectives and therefore enables the fund to help the sectors to tackle climate and environmental challenges. This means in particular assisting the EU's coal and steel industries to reduce their emissions, thus contributing to the European Green Deal's goals and achieving a Just Transition towards a climate neutral economy.

The Research Fund for Coal and Steel is embedded in the political, scientific, and technological objectives of the Union, and complements the activities carried out in the Member States and within the existing Union Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities.

As the European Commission encourages complementarity and sequencing among research programmes and supports the exchange of information between projects financed under different instruments, this Research Programme is meant to be complementary to national and other European financial instruments for research and innovation, including Horizon Europe, ESIF, ERDF, the Innovation Fund and LIFE.

Reference to consolidated Council Decisions (Council Decision of 29 April 2008 2008/376/EC amended by the Council Decision (EU) 2017/955 of 29 May 2017 and Council Decision (EU) 2021/1094 of 28 June 2021).

The RFCS Programme (RFCS Decision 2021/1094) has the following research objectives for the Steel sector:

• New, sustainable and low-carbon steelmaking and finishing processes (Art. 8);
• Advanced steel grades and applications (Art. 9);
• Conservation of resources, protection of the environment and circular economy (Art. 10);
• Management of work force and working conditions (Art. 10a).

The call objectives are:

1. Preparation of steel CO/CO2 gases for Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS);
2. Process Integration (PI) in steel plants to reduce the use of fossil carbon and associated CO2 emissions;
3. CO2 neutral iron ore reduction (Increasing the use of pre-reduced iron carriers);
4. Developing technologies to reduce the specific energy required to produce steel.

This Call provides support for projects that will support the transition towards a climate-neutral Union economy by 2050, with the main objective of developing and demonstrating innovative clean steel breakthrough technologies leading to near-zero-carbon steel making, as well as fundamental changes within the steel landscape and overall carbon footprint.

Specifically

• Activities are expected to start at TRL 4-6 and achieve TRL 7-8 by the end of the project.
• Proposals should address the application of innovative technologies related to one or two of the four call objectives listed below. If addressing two call objectives, proposals should clearly identify which Work Packages address which sub-objective(s) of which objective(s).
• Proposals shall be in line with the general and specific objectives listed in the Memorandum of Understanding for the European partnership on Clean Steel (launched in Horizon Europe and they need to show how they contribute to the multi-annual Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) of the Clean Steel Partnership.
• If the proposal does not have direct relevance to achieving the EGD and the full decarbonisation process of the steel sector for climate neutrality, this will be considered as a significant weakness by the expert evaluators.
• Proposals are expected to include an exploitation strategy outlining possible integration of the deliverables of the project (including the pilot/demonstrators) in an industrial environment and a preliminary assessment of their economic viability. When relevant, activities related to economic analysis in the direction of a business case or new business models can also be mentioned.
• Proposals are expected to include activities related to the development and dissemination of competencies to keep pace with new near-zero-carbon steel production processes, such digitalisation and to reflect the principle of lifelong learning.
• Proposals should be in line with the chapter on ‘emerging techniques’ of the “Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for Iron and Steel Production to look in parallel at both decarbonisation and pollutant emissions and with the Industrial technology roadmap for low-carbon technologies in Energy Intensive Industries.

Proposers may submit proposals for either Pilot or Demonstration projects (see Art. 15 and Art. 16 of Council Decision 2008/376/EC).