(Adds CEO comments, context)
FRANKFURT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - German conglomerate
Thyssenkrupp on Monday joined peers in saying that
European industry was under threat should the continent fail to
come up with a scheme similar to the U.S. climate package to
boost local companies.
"The common task of policymakers, business and society must
... be to ensure that the green transformation succeeds without
deindustrialization," Chief Executive Martina Merz said in a
prepared speech published ahead of the group's annual general
meeting on Friday.
She said that was particularly the case for Germany with its
industrial base, including steel, cement and chemicals makers,
that have all suffered from higher energy costs, driving
inflation at a time when they need to decarbonise production.
That has stoked fears of European companies shutting or
moving production to regions where costs are lower, compounded
by the $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to
support clean technologies via tax credits.
The European Union responded this month saying it will
prepare a law to make life easier for its green industry and
back it up with state aid and a sovereignty fund to keep firms
from moving to the United States.
"That's good, because tomorrow's markets are being carved up
now," Merz said, adding that a planned spin-off of
Thyssenkrupp's steel division still required more clarity in
terms of subsidies as well as energy and raw materials prices.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Miranda Murray and
Christina Fincher)
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