Germany will spend an additional 5 billion euros ($6 billion) to slash emissions from the steel industry as it intensifies efforts to hit increasingly stringent climate goals.

Europe’s biggest economy will spend the money to support steelmakers’ hydrogen production projects and other research programs, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said Monday following a meeting with representatives from the German steel industry. The funds will also aid the construction of infrastructure needed to smooth the conversion to low-emission metal production.

“Steel is a key industry for Germany,” Altmaier said. “At the same time, it has a special role in efforts to reduce emissions because it is the biggest industrial emitter of greenhouse gases.”

Germany will need to invest more than 35 billion euros by 2050 to slash the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, Altmaier said. The government is prepared to offer subsidies up to the maximum allowed under EU state-aid rules in order to green the industry, he added.

Germany’s economy creates more carbon dioxide emissions than peers