Cogne Acciai Speciali, an Italian stainless steel and specialty steel manufacturer, has started operations at a pilot plant in Aosta, northern Italy, to explore the use of green hydrogen in steel production.

The project, part of the " Green Hydrogen in Cogne" initiative, is the first to replace fossil natural gas with green hydrogen in an industrial heat treatment process. The company projects that using green hydrogen, which is produced by a new hydropower plant and rooftop solar panels, can prevent up to 26 tons of carbon emissions per ton of hydrogen.

The project is supported by approximately EUR 8 million in public funding and is part of Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), under the Next Generation EU (NGEU) instrument.