LIBERTY Galati hosts major conference to promote its city as Romania’s first hydrogen hub

LIBERTY Galati is celebrating the success of its “GALAȚI GREEN VALLEY – New Investment Hub for the Future” event, which the team organized in partnership with Romania’s leading business publication Ziarul Financiar (ZF).

The conference brought together high-level Romanian and European officials, experts and  business leaders from across Romania and the Galaţi region, who together with colleagues from LIBERTY discussed the future of Galati as Romania’s next “Hydrogen green valley”, a hub for sustainable steel and renewable energy, as well the plant’s major investment in its GREENSTEEL transformation and the policies and conditions needed to help achieve these ambitious goals.

Numerous personalities spoke at the event including the Minister of Economy, two Romanian Members of the European Parliament, the President of the County Council and the local Mayor with representatives from major investors such as EximBank and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The event was live-streamed on ZF’s own TV channels and received widespread positive media coverage, as well as allowing stakeholders to better understand our commitment to the sustainable future of LIBERTY Galaţi and Romania.

“Romania has enormous potential to become the main hydrogen producer in Europe, and Galati should be at the heart of this program by becoming a green valley. It is not only needed here in Galaţi, but this is the best place for it to be. Right here we can create all the renewable energy we need, to make the green hydrogen needed to make the green iron and green steel our customers and our communities are calling for. We want to be an integral part of the green future of Galaţi and the local community and intend to be a major part of Galaţi’s truly green valley project.”

Ajay Aggarwal, LIBERTY’s European President

“We believe decarbonisation is the route to creating a more sustainable and economically resilient industry here in Galaţi , in Romanian and the wider EU. That is why our goal is to be carbon neutral by 2030 and why we have already announced our ambitious €1 billion GREENSTEEL programme to reduce the carbon intensity of LIBERTY Galaţi’s production by more than 80%. But we can’t do it all by ourselves – it has to be a team effort with government, investors, suppliers and customers working together to protect our planet. And its critical we bring community with us, helping to upskill our current employees for the future and attract new young talent to a bright new clean industry. We’re already doing our part with the GREENSTEEL Academy and the GFG Foundation here but we need more of these initiatives to create the critical mass of technical specialists required as we drive forward to a clean, green hydrogen future.”

Sandip Biswas, CEO of LIBERTY Primary Steel & Mining and GFG Alliance Chief Investment Officer