The EU may create research funds in the field of coal and steel in 2027
The European Commission may fund a much larger share of research in the coal and steel industries from 2027, according to a staff working paper published yesterday.
The EU Coal and Steel Research Foundation (RFCS) will fund 70% of corporate research and 100% of academic research on green initiatives, if the EU makes this proposal. He currently funds 50% of both corporate and academic research projects, but is struggling to attract participants or meet his cost targets, noting that "insufficient project funding is due to the unattractiveness of certain aspects of the program."
The RFC spent 57% of its 43 million euro ($50 million) budget on major coal projects and only 31% of its 208 million euro budget on steel research between 2021 and 2024. Concerned about the shortage of applications, Brussels consulted with companies and scientists this year and found that the biggest obstacle is the cost requirements. Most of them were unable or unwilling to independently finance 50% of major research projects.
The RFC has supported a number of groups hoping to convert old coal mines to produce clean energy. GreenJOBS and Mine — TO—H2, the two recipients of the funding, plan to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen from mine water, while GrEnMine has received pilot funding of 3.5 million euros to explore new ways to store gravitational energy in abandoned mines. Other companies such as REM and GI-mine are working on new methods to capture methane from coal mines.
In the steel sector, RFC has allocated funds to hydrogen energy projects such as ProSynteg and HYDREAMS, as well as research groups such as BIOCODE, which hope to replace up to 10% of coal in coke ovens with biomass.
In 2002, the EU dissolved the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), an agency tasked with creating a common European steel market, which eventually led to the creation of the EU. The EU used the proceeds from ECSC assets to launch and finance the RFCs in the same year, and expanded the program in 2021 by leveraging the assets themselves.