SALZGITTER (dpa-AFX) - Steel manufacturer Salzgitter AG plans to cut around 500 to 800 jobs by 2033. In the course of converting production to more climate-friendly processes, fewer employees will be needed in the future, CEO Gunnar Groebler told the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" newspaper on Sunday. The jobs could be "reduced over time in a socially acceptable way through the age pyramid alone."

By the end of this decade alone, around 30 percent of employees would retire due to age, Groebler said. By 2033, the entire steel mill in Salzgitter is to be retrofitted with new technology for low-CO2 production.

To this end, Salzgitter AG is converting its production processes from coal to natural gas and green hydrogen. In this way, 95 percent of the annual CO2 emissions amounting to eight million tons are to be saved. According to the company, this would correspond to one percent of Germany's CO2 emissions./xma/DP/jha