Italy’s Arvedi launches net-zero steel, signs green supply deal with Mercedes Benz

Italian steelmaker Arvedi on May 9 launched “Arvzero”, the steel with zero CO2 emissions, in line with its decarbonization plan unveiled in 2018.

“From today, all the steel produced by Arvedi site in Cremona has been certificated for being with zero emissions of CO2 for scope 1 and scope 2,” CEO Mario Arvedi Caldonazzo said at the Made in Steel fair event underway in Milan.

Arvedi produces coils in Cremona, northeast Italy, with the Arvedi patent technology that significantly reduces CO2 emissions.

The company has invested around Eur500 million in the last few years to reduce its scope 1 emissions to 133 kg/mt. For scope 2, Arvedi has achieved its zero emissions target thanks to contracts signed with Enel, Italy’s largest utility.

The company is still working to substantially reduce its scope 3 emissions, as well as decarbonize other units like the tube maker division and the stainless division and in particular the stainless production done in Terni AST.

CEO Caldonazzo said that more and more steel end-users are looking to buy green steel with Arvedi, which just closed a deal with Mercedes Benz. He declined to share more details on the deal.

Arvedi produces its coils in Cremona with two electric arc furnaces, using scrap. Among the different routes to produce steel, the EAF one is less polluted, resulting in several steelmakers shifting to produce steel using scrap.

Italian steelmakers — that produce steel with scrap with the exception of Acciaierie d’Italia — are concerned about the availability of scrap in future, and Caldonazzo, who is also the vice president of Eurofer, during his speech stressed the importance of scrap as strategic raw material.

He said that the export of around 20 million mt/year of scrap from Europe “represents an important loss for the European economy”.

Platts assessed daily carbon-accounted steel premium (CASP) at Eur65/mt on May 9, down Eur10/mt on the day, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

Author Annalisa Villa