Klöckner : Klöckner & Co SE forms partnership with H2 Green Steel on its path to becoming the pioneer in the sustainable steel business

• Klöckner & Co will become one of the first distributors of "green steel" produced with almost no CO₂ emissions
• Annual quantities of up to 250,000 tons supplied from 2025 onwards; this represents a substantial share of the company's current annual turnover in Germany
• Green steel will be processed primarily through Klöckner & Co's subsidiary Becker Stahl-Service, a key service center for the automotive and domestic appliance industries
• The partnership is an important contribution to the "Klöckner & Co 2025: Leveraging Strengths strategy"

Duisburg, Germany, October 7, 2021 - Klöckner & Co SE ("Klöckner & Co") has partnered with the Swedish start-up H2 Green Steel ("H2GS") and secured unique access to substantial volumes of "green steel," i.e. steel that is considered almost free of CO₂ emissions. H2GS will produce the steel with more than 95% lower gross CO2 emissions than conventional production methods. With this collaboration, Klöckner & Co is boosting its offering of sustainable products and services significantly. The company is taking the strategic opportunity to deeply integrate the new and attractive business activities arising from green steel into its business model. Building on the partnership and its "Klöckner & Co 2025: Leveraging Strengths" strategy, the company aims to become the leading digital one-stop-shop platform for steel, additional materials and processing services in Europe and the Americas as well as a pioneer of sustainability - for the benefit of society, the steel industry and customers.

Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: "Through our partnership with H2 Green Steel, we will be increasing the availability of green steel for our customers significantly and enabling them to build an emission-free value chain. As part of our corporate strategy, we are working at full speed to implement this new offering, which will make us a pioneer of sustainability in the steel industry. In addition to our independence and our advanced digitalization, this will enable us to offer our customers further advantages."

Securing first quantities of green steel available on the market at an early stage

Klöckner & Co is securing significant quantities of green steel for its customers at an early stage. Starting in 2025, the initial partnership defines the delivery of annual volumes of up to 250,000 tons, which may be extended in the future. The flat steel supplied by H2GS will be processed primarily by Klöckner & Co's subsidiary Becker Stahl-Service. The products will be offered to customers especially in the European automotive and domestic appliance industries.

Important contribution to the implementation of Klöckner & Co's strategy

The collaboration with H2GS marks an important step for Klöckner & Co, as the company leverages its assets and expands its partner network as announced within the "Klöckner & Co 2025: Leveraging Strengths" strategy. By broadening its product portfolio with green steel, Klöckner & Co is once again demonstrating its commitment to a more sustainable economy. Klöckner & Co committed to the UN Global Compact initiative "Business Ambition for 1.5°C" in 2020, thus aligning its business activities with science-based targets in order to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C through appropriate measures.