Data
Extra cost of steel made with hydrogen (IEA, Global Hydrogen Review)
How much more it cost to make steel from hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (H2 DRI) in 2024, as the IEA states it: 50 to 140 percent more than blast furnaces and 20 to 80 percent more than unabated natural gas-based DRI, depending on the region.
Latest value
50%
World (range across regions), 2024. Version Global Hydrogen Review 2025 (IEA, September 2025; revised October 2025).
As published
“The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI.”
Global Hydrogen Review 2025, Chapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51. Checked word for word against the stored copy of the document every time the data is rebuilt.
Every value
| Conventional route compared with | End of the stated range | Period | Value (%) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blast furnaceChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | Low endChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | 2024 | 50 | final |
| Blast furnaceChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | High endChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | 2024 | 140 | final |
| Unabated natural gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI)Chapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | Low endChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | 2024 | 20 | final |
| Unabated natural gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI)Chapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | High endChapter 2, the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies (steel), p. 51: "The cost gap is greater for H2 DRI, ranging from 50% to 140% (depending on the region) when compared with blast furnaces, and 20% to 80% compared with unabated natural gas-based DRI." | 2024 | 80 | final |
Where it comes from
- Producer
- International Energy Agency · Global Hydrogen Review 2025
- Version
- Global Hydrogen Review 2025 (IEA, September 2025; revised October 2025)
- Fetched
- 2026-10-08 (automatically), 10,610,820 bytes
- Fingerprint
- sha256 94f2912332e1e1d6bf0ac9514684cb189b30f1df7ed152505f5f67968413aeb2ETag 0x8DE0B26C4883D5C · Last-Modified Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:37:06 GMT
- Copies
- No Wayback copy recorded yet.
- Cite the producer
- IEA 2025; Global Hydrogen Review 2025, https://www.iea.org/reports/global-hydrogen-review-2025, License: CC BY 4.0
What was done to it
Read the text of the PDF (sha256 94f2912332e1…). Found each of the 1 quoted statement(s) word for word on PDF page(s) 53, and the 3 context sentence(s) the scope relies on, before publishing.
Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/action/green_premium.py · code sha256 c2e591e4a0510a3d… · inputs 94f2912332e1…
Published each number exactly as printed, with its statement in the value's note. A range 'A-B%' is published as its low end A and high end B (dimension 'bound'); nothing was computed, rounded or combined with any other source.
Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/action/green_premium.py · code sha256 c2e591e4a0510a3d… · inputs 94f2912332e1…
What it covers
- Geography
- World (range across regions)
- Basis
- Steel from hydrogen direct reduced iron (captive renewable power, per Figure 2.9), compared with blast furnaces and with unabated natural gas-based DRI; the range runs across regions. Levelised cost of production in 2024 (the text's present tense, matching Figure 2.9, 'Levelised cost of production of selected materials by technology, 2024'), IEA analysis. Energy costs are regional end-user prices for industry including taxes and charges; no explicit financial support, though support embedded in cost components (such as fossil fuel subsidies) may be included (figure note).
- Unit
- percent more than the conventional route (%)