Coalition for the green transition of Ukraine was created in London with the participation of Metinvest and the government

The Metinvest group joined the government’s platform on the green recovery of the steel sector of Ukraine. It is stated in the company’s message.

The partnership memorandum was signed at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Together with the CEO of Metinvest Yuriy Ryzhenkov the document was signed by the First Deputy Prime Minister – the Minister of Economy Yulia Svyridenko, representatives of Primetals (Austria), Fortescue – FMG (Australia), Rothschild & Co (France) and potential consumers of products.

The Green Transition Coalition brings together equipment producers, consumers, financial institutions, government and other stakeholders. The main goal of the association is to restore Ukrainian industry through an ecological, green transformation of steel production. This will help support the national economy and population, while at the same time becoming a driver for supporting the EU’s decarbonisation agenda.

«Green steel is a key element of the group’s long-term strategy. Part of it is the transition to the use of DR-class pellets at Metinvest’s steel plants in Ukraine. This is our green transit», commented Yuriy Ryzhenkov on the company joining the platform.

According to him, the company is ready for this transition and its financing to a large extent after Ukraine’s victory in the war. In addition, Metinvest will gladly become a partner in this direction.

Before signing the memorandum, coalition members and market experts took part in the round table «Green steel: reconstruction of Ukrainian industry and its integration into European ecological production chains». According to the estimates of its participants, the cost of the medium-term strategy of the green transition for Ukraine until 2035 is about $35 billion. Such investments will ensure the production of up to 15 million tons of green steel per year.

The CEO of the Metinvest group believes that the creation of a full production cycle of green steel in Ukraine is quite possible. In addition, as mentioned earlier, during the post-war reconstruction, the country should be considered as part of the EU and its production chain.

«This is why Ukraine’s participation in the initiative to develop green steel has great potential. The chain of creation of such products involves the availability of iron ore, energy and sales markets. Today we are fully supplied only with iron ore. We should work together with the Ukrainian government, business and partners on the implementation of other processes,» noted Yuriy Ryzhenkov.

As an example, he cited the Ukrainian energy market, which is still at the stage of formation and implementation of the relevant regulatory framework. Access to markets, particularly capital markets, is also an important issue.

«Now most of the EU steel producers are trying to secure the supply of DRI pellets. And this moment is the time for alliances. It’s time for iron ore suppliers and steel producers in the EU to unite,» Yuriy Ryzhenkov noted.

Metinvest plans to work in two main directions within the implementation of the green transition strategy:

• improving the quality of iron ore products to DR-class with a gradual increase in its production capacity;
• re-equipment of the Zaporizhstal and Kametstal workshops for a more environmentally friendly electric steelmaking method of steel production from DRI-class pellets (with the prospect of switching to hydrogen, in particular produced with the help of renewable energy) and expansion of the rolling products line.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2021, Metinvest agreed with Primetals and K1-MET to cooperate in the field of decarbonization – then two memorandums on technological cooperation on emission reduction were signed.

Also, Ukraine creates the State Fund for Decarbonization and Energy-Efficient Transformation – the corresponding law was signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky in early May 2023.