Govt funding helps Nippon Steel decide to make huge EAF investments

The same day that it was hoping to hear whether Donald Trump on the other side of the world would allow its nearly $15 billion 'partnership' with United States Steel to proceed, in Tokyo on Friday Nippon Steel announced that it had decided to invest Yen 617.3 billion ($4.3 billion) of its own money to expand electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking at several of its works in Japan as part of decarbonization efforts. The Japanese government will contribute another Yen 251.4 billion.

Nippon Steel declared that it had made the decision to invest after being selected as a "2025-2029 Energy and Manufacturing Process Transformation Support Business" under Japan's new Green Transformation (GX) Promotion Act, formulated to help companies "transition from a fossil fuel-oriented economic and industrial structure to a clean energy-oriented