It is, by Aditya Mittal's own admission, a small step, but "an opportunity to decarbonise our processes and improve our capabilities": ArcelorMittal aims to produce 600,000 tonnes of green steel equivalent by the end of 2022, or 0.8% of its global production in 2020.

"This progress has really galvanised our customers," said the multinational's new CEO on Wednesday at the presentation of XCarb, its neutral steel brand. It is taking root in Europe before launching "shortly" in North America, according to the CEO.


A three-pronged strategy

ArcelorMittal intends to deploy three ingredients to achieve this operation: green certificates, recycled and renewable sources and an innovation fund of $100m per year for innovative companies.

In detail, the group intends to accumulate the CO2 savings and convert them into green certificates for its customers.

As for steel of recyclable origin, the idea is not only to take advantage of the circularity of this material, but also to manufacture it using renewable electricity to reduce its carbon footprint to 300 kg of CO2 per tonne of finished steel, according to the manufacturer's estimates.

Finally, the company plans to set up a fund of $100m a year to finance companies that could, through their innovations, accompany it in its decarbonisation strategy.

"We are developing a decarbonisation strategy for each site," said Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe. In Luxembourg, the group presented a biogas production project at its Rodange site in late January.

By 2025, this project, estimated at €15m, should cover a quarter of the gas needs of the site in question.

The group is committed to investing between €165 and €205m in all of its seven sites in Luxembourg after signing a tripartite agreement providing for the elimination of 536 jobs--out of 3,600--in the country.