ArcelorMittal Europe announces CO2 emissions reduction “…roadmap”

ArcelorMittal Europe has announced a CO2 roadmap to reduce emissions -30% by 2030. This is in line with the steelmaker’s plan announced in May to be carbon neutral in Europe by 2050.

The roadmap, for ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, is based on three distinct pathways that have the potential to deliver a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

These include “clean power steelmaking”, i.e. using clean power as the energy source for hydrogen-based steelmaking, and longer term for direct electrolysis steelmaking. “Circular carbon steelmaking,” meanwhile, is using circular carbon energy sources, such as waste biomass, to displace fossil fuels in steelmaking, thereby enabling low-emissions steelmaking. “Fossil fuel carbon capture and storage” is maintaining the current method of steel production but then capturing and storing the carbon, or re-using it rather than emitting into the atmosphere.

Among the initiatives under way to contribute to the goal are the €65 million ($73m) investment to use hydrogen for the direct reduction of iron ore at the Hamburg site. Also being carried out is the construction of a carbon capture and storage pilot project, 3D, which will begin at ArcelorMittal Dunkirk in 2020.

ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products chief executive Geert Van Poelvoorde says the roadmap is “…not a one-size-fits-all model, as different parts of our business are at varying starting points. For some sites, certain technologies will work while others will be suited to another route. We’ve spent the last few years testing a range of technologies and now is the time to scale up and put them into action, with the support of the EU and member states, to ensure we are able to fully decarbonise.”

Last week ArcelorMittal voiced its support for the European Commission’s European Green Deal package (see Kallanish passim).