CRE, LIBERTY, MTAG, ICSI and ADREM establish a Technical and Research Collaboration Framework

• The agreement creates framework to collaborate on novel energy production technology and fuels
• The Pan-European partnership will commit to developing sustainability and decarbonisation as well as incorporating young people into its R&D programmes
• The Agreement is important step towards achieving the EU’s carbon neutrality commitment, by developing a strategy to integrate alternative technology and fuels into industrial processes and decarbonise heavy industries

The Romanian Energy Center (CRE), a professional association of public and private companies operating in the Romanian energy sector, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a Technical and Research Collaboration Framework (the Agreement) with LIBERTY Steel Group, part of Sanjeev Gupta’s sustainable industry leader GFG Alliance, MTAG Switzerland, the international engineering corporation, ICSI Rm. Valcea, the Romanian research and development facility and Adrem, the energy services company oriented towards innovation, efficiency and sustainability.

The Agreement will promote, facilitate and consolidate international cooperation in research, innovation and business development of novel energy production technology and fuels.

The parties to the Agreement, which is initially for five years, intend to collaborate in a range of ways, including:

• • Joint research projects and pilot projects;
• • Joint technical and commercial advisory services, training services, case studies and possible business development activities related to green hydrogen, green steel, renewable energy sources and energy storage amongst others;
• • Joint participation and dissemination of research information in workshops and/or conference days;
• • Joint teaching and/or supervision of students.

Commenting on the news, Corneliu Bodea, President of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE) and CEO of Adrem, said: “New technologies, alternative fuels and their industrial applications create the premises for a truly sustainable future. It is the responsibility of each of us to carry out our activity without exhausting the available resources and without irreparably impacting the environment, thus being able to satisfy the needs of the next generations. I am honoured to contribute to this research-development-innovation project, together with partners who share the same values and beliefs. This project represents a common effort, in the right direction to support economic, environmental and social sustainability, thus we aim to identify and choose those actions that make technological and economic sense.”

Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance and LIBERTY Steel Group, said: “We need to reinvent and decarbonise steel production fast, as the need to cut our emissions gets ever more pressing against a backdrop of rising global demand for our products and legislative pressure to become carbon neutral. Green Hydrogen and Hydrogen steel making has the potential to solve this issue and we believe these partners, who share our commitment to include more young people in this critical area of research, will help us and the wider industry reach true GREENSTEEL more quickly.”

Mihai Varlam, President of the Board of ICSI Rm. Valcea, said: “It is a “premiere” for Romania that a heterogeneous consortium but with complementary skills are gathering to implement new emergent technologies at larger scale. And, as any new initiative it is full of aspirations and it is up to each of us that these wishes will be converted to reality. It is a global “revolution” which is happening in front of us and Romania cannot remain with the role of viewer. The whole humanity is facing new challenges and it is a crucial moment that we must start to do something more than plans and declarations. The moment is full of commitments and ICSI will support with its knowledge any project which is intended to decarbonize the heavy industry in Romania. What this consortium has to do is to remain focused to the targets and use the whole capability to elaborate innovative projects and implement it professionally.”

Adrian Bodea, CEO of MTAG Switzerland, said: “The growing global concern towards climate change already determines key industries, which generate massive CO2 footprint, to decarbonise by modernising their technology and optimising their industrial processes. Major industrial sectors, besides metallurgy, are investing huge efforts and resources to go GREEN, the target for this decade being to reach “zero” carbon footprint. Our goal is to transform what is now research in this field, into large scale economically viable industrial technology.”

Romanian Energy Center (CRE) works as a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political organization that identifies, supports and equally represents the interests of its members. The main objective of CRE is to promote the active participation of Romanian state-owned and private energy companies in European partnerships, in European co-financed projects and, more importantly, in the European decision-making process. For more information please visit https://www.crenerg.org/en/

LIBERTY Steel Group is a global steel and mining business with a rolling capacity of over 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), a liquid steel capacity of over 14mtpa and has around 30,000 employees and contractors based in more than 200 locations worldwide. LIBERTY is now the 8th largest steel manufacturer globally (excluding China). LIBERTY is part of GFG Alliance, a collection of global businesses and investments focused on the metals and renewable energy sectors owned by Sanjeev Gupta and his immediate family. GFG Alliance is a leader in sustainable industry with a mission to become Carbon Neutral by 2030 (CN30). For more information please visit www.gfgalliance.com.