What do Göran Persson and Daniel Ek have in common?

Yes, they are not similar to Spotify lists, I dare say.

No, what they have in common is something completely different: iron and steel, and Norrbotten plains.

Both are key figures in the north, when it comes to the question of fate to produce steel without using coal.

Göran Persson as chairman of the state mining company LKAB, which together with the steel company SSAB and the state power giant Vattenfall owns the Hybrit project.

It will be an iron sponge plant in Gällivare and then fossil-free steel, without the enormous amounts of carbon dioxide that the climate really cannot handle soon.

Hybrit expects investments of perhaps SEK 200 billion.

They would be the first in the world, it was called in the autumn.

Tech giants enter the game

But it did not last long.

For soon, the above-mentioned Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify, came on board, together with the venture capitalist Harald Mix and Cristina Stenbeck.

With him are the Spotify founder, venture capitalist Harald Mix and Cristina Stenbeck.

They could be described as rock-rich tech big business.

The exact opposite of the state colossi behind Hybrit.

But they should do the same thing: be the first in the world to make fossil-free steel.

Their project, H2 Green Steel, will build a steelworks in Boden for SEK 25 billion, and now it will be the first in the world according to plan.

As early as 2024, fossil-free steel, ie manufactured without coal, will come from there.

"Impossible to sell fossil steel"

These are incredibly important investments.

The world cannot do without steel, but it can not do with coal.

And it's probably only a matter of time before any Sweden brand strategist or industry organization gives the whole epithet "The Swedish Climate Wonder".

But the fact that so many different players are investing and pulling together so many billions in this untested technology, despite the fact that steel is becoming more expensive, is not a miracle, but rather a proof that the financial world is beginning to expect that it will be impossible to sell fossil steel.

And that those who need steel, for example to build houses, cars or bridges, will need the fossil-free steel.

All of them.

Investors in Norrbotten are therefore likely to calculate that carbon steel will become unsaleable.

In practice, this means that they speculate on more expensive emission rights and carbon dioxide tax on a global scale, or equivalent political decisions.

Sweden has had a carbon dioxide tax since the 1990s, but not many other countries have it, and above all it has been considered politically impossible to implement it globally or in major important countries.

Increased pressure - but many pitfalls

But in recent years, major economic organizations such as the IMF and the OECD have repeatedly described carbon dioxide tax as the most effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

And the new US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, raised the issue of carbon taxes when she was asked in Congress before the accession.

There will be criticism and demands for governments' multi-billion support in the corona crisis.

The EU has finally landed in that 30 percent of the money in the rescue package and long-term budget will contribute to green transition.

In Sweden, the government received harsh criticism from the Climate Council for the fact that only 10 percent of the recovery support in the autumn budget is green.

The pressure thus increases.

But there are pitfalls.

Electricity consumption is astronomical.

Competitors can come up with even better technology.

But if the speculation holds, that is, that the politicians make the carbon steel unsaleable, then it does not matter at all who will be first.

Everyone can sell as much as they can anyway.