It is “becoming increasingly clear” that transformational, low-emission ironmaking investments are only likely to be economical post-2030 and that policies to address the high capital and operational costs involved are required to make that happen, says ArcelorMittal chief executive Aditya Mittal.
What the steelmaking group can achieve by 2030 will “depend critically” on how the regulatory environment evolves this year, particularly in Europe. The EU’s Steel and Metals Action Plan “demonstrates that Europe understands the challenges the industry faces and the seriousness of the situation and is ready to tackle the structural issues required to support the future of steelmaking on the continent,” Mittal says in ArcelorMittal’s 2024 sustainability report.
The ceo hopes the plan “will be translated into swift action,” he adds in the report seen by Kallanish.
“Pending policy clarity, there is simply too much uncertainty at the moment to be able to make useful projections about how rapidly we will be able to bring down our emissions in the next five years,” Mittal continues.
The steelmaker intends to publish revised decarbonisation forecasts when the policy environment becomes more settled. In the meantime, it continues to develop all technologies that support lower emissions iron and steelmaking.
Over the next five years, its decarbonisation efforts will continue to focus on diversifying metallics supply, increasing energy efficiency, securing clean energy, and transforming steelmaking assets through continuing the shift to electric arc furnaces.
In the longer term, it expects to transition to lower emissions ironmaking and add carbon capture and storage.
All decarbonisation-related capital expenditure will be contained within the annual capex budget of $4.5-5 billion.
“The above approach should ensure that we can move swiftly when we reach the tipping point, where the confluence of policy, technology and cost will irreversibly transform the economics of steelmaking in favour of low-carbon methods,” Mittal concludes.
Adam Smith Poland
