Environmental impacts

ArcelorMittal Europe announces details of the CO2 technology strategy that will enable it to offer its first green steel solutions to customers this year (30 000 tonnes), scale up this offering in coming years (to reach 120 000 tonnes in 2021 and 600 000 tonnes by 2022), deliver its 30% CO2 emissions target by 2030, and achieve net zero by 2050.

Click here to learn more: ArcelorMittal Europe to produce ’green steel’ starting in 2020

With our two newest Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for Hot rolled and Cold rolled steels, ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products is now the only flat products steel producer in the EU with a full set of EPDs for products and solutions, signalling our commitment to sustainable building.

Vital for sustainable building certifications

EPDs are crucial for sustainable building certifications like LEED, BREEAM, DGNB, BNB, or HQE and are now being introduced into national regulations for construction. EPDs explain the optimisation potential over the lifetime of their products to manufacturers who can utilise the information to conserve resources, resulting in a low impact built environment and life cycle cost-effectiveness.

The Institut Bauen und Umwelt - IBU

An EPD details the environmental effects of building products based on a life cycle assessment. It is created by the manufacturer and then reviewed by IBU (the Institut Bauen und Umwelt e. V.) on the basis of ISO 14025 and EN 15804.

ArcelorMittal Europe is a member of IBU and, through IBU, global recognition is ensured by their ECO Platform, an organisation of national EPD programme holders in Europe that promotes the cross-border recognition and application of EPDs.

Text: Constructalia
Images: ArcelorMittal Europe, Institut Bauen und Umwelt e. V.

ArcelorMittal Europe has set out the path to net zero by 2050, with pioneering technologies at the forefront of the company’s roadmap for carbon-neutral steelmaking.

• Europe’s largest steelmaker, unveils breakthrough technologies that will take the company to 30% lower CO2 emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2050.
• ArcelorMittal Europe is investing in two routes to carbon neutrality, Smart Carbon and an innovative DRI-based route, in recognition of the need to act now to reduce CO2 emissions, in line with the EU’s Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.
• Calls for new policy framework, to support the industry in its transition to carbon neutrality, name five market conditions that are needed for Europe’s steelmakers to compete globally.

Smart Carbon and DRI

ArcelorMittal Europe has announced details of how it plans to become carbon neutral by 2050 in its first climate action report. Building on the company’s work that has demonstrated that the steelmaking process can become carbon neutral, the report publishes details of the ground-breaking work underway to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030 before reaching net zero in 2050.

The company is pioneering two breakthrough carbon-neutral routes for steelmaking: Smart Carbon and an innovative DRI-based route.

Smart Carbon is a carbon-neutral steelmaking route that leverages all clean energies – circular carbon, clean electricity, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) - within the high temperature-controlled reduction environment of ironmaking. In its first phase, Smart Carbon will primarily use circular carbon.

Reaching carbon-neutral steelmaking via DRI involves moving from using predominantly natural gas to hydrogen as the key reductant in ironmaking. As this hydrogen becomes ‘green’, the steelmaking process comes close to carbon neutrality.

Complementary technologies will enable progress

While both the Smart Carbon route and the DRI-based route have the potential to deliver carbon-neutral steel by 2050, the important difference between the two routes is that Smart Carbon can deliver results sooner, through its use of complementary technologies which enable incremental progress. Uniquely, Smart Carbon has the potential not only to provide carbon-neutral steel, but also carbon-neutral cement, and the building blocks to make recycled carbon materials to replace polyethylene-based plastics. Smart Carbon can also contribute to CO2 removal, through the increased use of circular carbon, using sustainable biomass and waste, combined with scaling up CCS.

By investing in both routes – and in recognition of the need to act now to combat climate change - this means ArcelorMittal Europe can significantly reduce scope 1 CO2 emissions* – which include all process emissions - by 2030 over a 2018 baseline, while waiting for the large-scale, affordable renewable energy needed for hydrogen-based steelmaking.

ArcelorMittal Europe’s 2030 target therefore combines Smart Carbon technologies and increased scrap usage, specifically by developing new ways to increase the use of low-quality scrap metal – which is hard to recycle - in the primary steel production process.

Leveraging all three clean energies

In the longer-term, both routes have the potential to leverage all three clean energies to achieve carbon neutrality, namely:

• clean electricity (generated by sources such as solar and wind)
• circular carbon (making use of biowaste materials, such as sustainable forestry and agriculture residues, to produce bioenergy)
• carbon capture and storage (capturing CO2 before it is emitted, transporting it and storing it safely underground)

Commenting on the report, Aditya Mittal, President and CFO, ArcelorMittal, and CEO ArcelorMittal Europe, said:

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing us all.  Understandably, much attention is currently focussed on navigating the unexpected and unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19.  However, climate change remains a huge long-term challenge that will require diligent attention and progress for decades to come. And like Covid-19, it is not something that one country or one company can solve alone. Carbon emissions also know no border, so it will take a global effort, with all nations and companies playing their part.

“ArcelorMittal Europe is doing a lot of work to develop a path to net zero. The technologies we are working on have the potential to make a big impact. Indeed, steel should and can play a leading role in achieving the vision for Europe as outlined in the Green Deal.   Our research and development team are one of the best in the industry and relish solving complex problems. But it needs a team effort.  The support the EU and member states can give to ensure we have well-designed policy to make large-scale, competitive, carbon-neutral steelmaking a reality, is critical.”

Industrial-scale demonstration projects for every part of the carbon-neutral roadmap

ArcelorMittal Europe has industrial-scale demonstration projects under construction for every part of its carbon-neutral roadmap. The company is building industrial-scale demonstration plants at its operations in Belgium (Carbalyst® and Torero) and France (3D and IGAR in Dunkirk). In Hamburg, Germany, we are in the design and funding phase prior to the investment decision of an industrial-scale project to use hydrogen instead of natural gas in the direct reduction of iron ore (DRI). These demonstration plants will allow the company to scale-up technologies that will be used in the Smart Carbon and DRI-based routes. The progress made has also been possible thanks to financial support from EU member states and European Union funding. ArcelorMittal Europe is now in the process of applying for funding for a further six projects.

While some of the technologies that feature in ArcelorMittal Europe’s roadmap will be ready for commercial-scale use by 2025, and by 2030 many of the Smart Carbon technologies can be mature and partially deployed across our facilities in Europe, the report also highlights the need for the right policy framework to enable European steelmaking to contribute to the EU’s climate targets, particularly given the costs involved.  In total, the estimated investment needed for ArcelorMittal Europe to fully implement Smart Carbon is €15-25bn and €30-40bn for the DRI-based route.  An additional €15–200bn would be required for the associated clean energy infrastructure (see report for more detail).

Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, explained:

“I am proud of the work that has brought us this far in our efforts to create Europe’s first and largest carbon-neutral steelmaker. Our progress would not have been possible without the many partners we have on our Smart Carbon and innovative DRI projects. Today, the biggest barrier to transitioning to carbon-neutral steel, beyond the necessary technologies reaching commercial maturity, is the absence of the right market conditions. The financial costs of realising carbon-neutral steelmaking are undeniably huge. However, with a shift in market conditions brought about by having the right policies in place, European steelmakers will be able to unlock the means to reduce emissions from steel globally, while also ensuring the European steel industry remains competitive.”

Medium-term market conditions required

The medium-term market conditions needed include:

1. Creating an environment where carbon-neutral steel is more competitive than steel which is not carbon neutral.
2. A fair competitive landscape that accounts for the global nature of the steel market, addressing domestic, import and export steel dynamics, as well as the distinction between primary and secondary sources to make steel.
3. Access to sustainable finance, to innovate and make long-term investments.
4. Access to abundant, affordable clean energy: the scale of the steel industry’s energy needs are such that concerted cross-sector and government efforts will be required to develop the necessary clean energy infrastructure.
5. Public instruments to accelerate innovative technology deployment to transition to carbon neutral steelmaking.

Carbon Border Adjustment should be introduced in the European Union

The report also reiterates the company’s position that a Carbon Border Adjustment should be introduced in the European Union, which would ensure that EU-produced steel and imported steel tonnes in direct competition would have an equal carbon cost, creating a fair market and, crucially, encouraging investment in lower-emissions steel production.

ArcelorMittal Europe announced its target to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 in December 2019, and its ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050 in June 2019.

The ArcelorMittal group will publish its 2030 target later this year.

*ArcelorMittal Europe 30% CO2 reduction target includes: ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products, and Industeel

Text: ArcelorMittal
Images: ArcelorMittal
Report: ArcelorMittal
Videos: ArcelorMittal

Related link(s)

Climate Action in Europe

AM Europe climate report news image for report button

The European Investment Bank (EIB), with the support of the European Commission, has granted a 75 million EUR loan to ArcelorMittal for the construction of two ground-breaking projects at ArcelorMittal Ghent, Belgium, to considerably reduce carbon emissions by converting waste and by-products into valuable new products, helping to develop low-carbon steelmaking technologies, in line with the EU’s climate objectives.

Overview of the projects

Steelanol: a 165 million EUR industrial-scale demonstration plant that will capture waste gases from the blast furnace and biologically convert them into recycled-carbon ethanol, the first commercial product of ArcelorMittal’s Carbalyst® family of recycled carbon chemicals. The ethanol produced can be blended for use as a liquid fuel. The technology was developed by LanzaTech, with whom ArcelorMittal has entered a long-term partnership, together with Primetals and E4tech.

Once complete, the plant is expected to produce up to 80 million litres of recycled-carbon ethanol a year. The new installation will create up to 500 construction jobs over the next two years and 20 to 30 new permanent direct jobs. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Torero: a 50 million EUR large-scale demonstration plant to convert waste wood into bio-coal, partially replacing the coal currently injected into the blast furnace.

In the early stage, the Torero plant will be able to convert up to 60 000 tonnes of waste wood into around 40 000 tonnes of bio-coal every year. This volume will be doubled in a second stage of the project, after the start of the first Torero reactor. The new installation will create around 70 external jobs and will create around ten new permanent direct jobs for the operation of this installation. The plant, which is being developed in partnership with Torr-Coal, Renewi, Joanneum Research Centre, Graz University and Chalmers Technical University, is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

Comments on the projects

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: “Even in the current difficult times, Europe keeps its ambitious climate targets and the EIB, the EU climate bank, is committed to continuing to be a key partner. In particular in the steel industry, it means finding new ways to power machines and processes that are essential for reducing carbon emissions. Thanks to a strong partnership with the European Commission, the EIB is very pleased to support the Steelanol and Torero projects in their efforts to work on more climate friendly and competitive processes.”

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “This EU backed loan will enable us to demonstrate that European steelmaking plants can be competitive while reducing carbon emissions and help us attain our climate goals. More than this, if we invest in European research, education and innovation we can demonstrate the global leadership that can secure and strengthen these industries and the people and communities they support for future generations.”

Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products said: “To date we have committed more than 250 million EUR to developing and testing technology that will help make steelmaking carbon neutral, leveraging our R&D facilities around the world. These two projects are our first large-scale implementations of new breakthrough solutions, as part of our commitment to reduce carbon emissions and transform steel production. With the EIB and European Commission’s support, we can scale up technologies and transition steel to carbon neutrality, and thereby play a significant role in helping Europe achieve its green ambitions.”

Jennifer Holmgren, CEO LanzaTech said: “The European Commission and the EIB continue to play a key role in enabling a new carbon economy for Europe by supporting innovative projects. Chemicals and liquid fuels, especially in the aviation sector, still need a source of carbon, while power generation can and should be fully decarbonized. Carbon recycling gives us a choice as to where the carbon in our products comes from: fresh fossil or reused carbon emissions. Our groundbreaking partnership with ArcelorMittal highlights their continued leadership in helping to create a low carbon economy in Europe.”

Additional details

• The Steelanol and Torero projects are set to reduce up to 350 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year in the first phase.
• The CO2 reduction is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions of a quarter of a million passenger vehicles being driven for one year.
• ArcelorMittal Europe has committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, with a further ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the EU’s Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.
• EIB investment is supported by InnovFin Energy Demonstration Projects and financed under Horizon 2020 and the NER 300 funding programme of the European Commission.

Text: ArcelorMittal
Images: ArcelorMittal