Hamburg's Second Mayor and Senator for the Environment Katharina Fegebank has presented the multinational company Tesa with a funding commitment of 950,000 euros. The funds come from the “Companies for Resource Protection” (UfR) program of Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB Hamburg). Tesa intends to use this to convert parts of its production facilities to hydrogen and to realize the connection to the hydrogen industrial network HH-WIN. Hamburger Energienetze is to supply the plant with hydrogen via HH-WIN starting in 2027.
“I am pleased that Tesa, as a genuine Hamburg-based traditional company, is taking this consistent step and demonstrating how the transition to green hydrogen succeeds in practice,” said Fegebank. “It is the goal of this Senate that Hamburg leads the way as a leading hydrogen hub in Europe and proves that ecological responsibility and economic success are two sides of the same coin. The fact that a global player like tesa is so clearly linking its commitment to the Hamburg location with our climate goals is a great signal and gives us significant momentum for the further ramp-up of the hydrogen economy.”
Tesa aims to achieve climate-neutral production by 2030
At the Hamburg plant, the company’s largest production site, Tesa is pursuing a transformation concept with four pillars: green hydrogen, electrification of process steam with thermal storage, AI-supported control, and efficiency improvements. Tesa CEO Kourosh Bahrami said: “The connection to HH‑WIN and the conversion of our facilities are therefore a decisive step: we reduce emissions, strengthen our resilience, and create the basis to support our customers worldwide even more reliably in achieving their own sustainability goals.” According to the company, it plans to invest around 300 million euros in the transformation of its business by 2030. To date, Tesa has reduced its CO2 emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 50 percent.
UfR program supports the “last mile” to the hydrogen network
The UfR funding program was expanded in December 2025 to accelerate the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. It supports companies in the physical connection to the HH-WIN network as well as in the technical conversion of production processes. Investment grants amount to up to one million euros and are financed from funds of the Hamburg Climate Plan.
HH-WIN to go into operation in 2027
HH-WIN is being built by Hamburger Energienetze. According to the company, it is to go into operation in 2027 with an initial pipeline length of 40 kilometers in the port area. Around 18 kilometers of the route have already been completed. By 2031/32, the network is to grow to 60 kilometers. It is part of the national hydrogen core network. At the former Moorburg power plant site, construction of a large-scale electrolyzer began in December 2025, which is to feed hydrogen into the network. Peter Wolffram, Managing Director of Hamburger Energienetze, said: “Hamburg will become one of the first major industrial locations where a large-scale hydrogen supply will already be available in 2027.”
According to its own information, Tesa has been developing innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions for industry, commercial customers, and end consumers for more than 125 years. Sustainability and energy-efficient processes are now the focus. tesa invests in the development of environmentally friendly products and solvent-free production processes as well as in the use of renewable energy sources at its sites.
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