Dunkirk (France) (AFP) – ArcelorMittal said Tuesday that it would build a low-carbon electric furnace at its steel mill in northern France, after months of wrangling with officials over the project’s economic viability. Unions feared the company would drop the plan announced two years ago to “decarbonise” the Dunkirk site by replacing two coal-fired furnaces with electric arc models.
But with President Emmanuel Macron in attendance, Arcelor executives said 1.3 billion euros ($1.55 billion) would be invested to replace one of the coal furnaces with an electric model coming online in 2029. “If we want to build cars and infrastructure in our Europe, we need to produce European steel and less carbon-intensive steel,” Macron said while meeting some of the site’s 3,200 employees.
Half of the funding for the revamp will come from Energy Efficiency Certificates (CEE), a French investment programme financed by contributions from energy suppliers. “With this strategic investment, ArcelorMittal confirms…its commitment to France and Europe,” the company’s head of flat steel products in Europe, Reiner Blaschek, said during Macron’s visit.
The company has been pressing European officials to protect the steel sector as it faces intense competition, in particular from Asian rivals not subject to strict emission regulations. While posting a rise in 2025 operating profit to $2.9 billion this week, it welcomed in particular reforms to an EU “carbon tax” to offset the CO2 emissions of foreign firms.
Arcelor’s Dunkirk site is among the 50 biggest industrial sources of greenhouse gases in France, the government says. With employees worried of job cuts if Arcelor scales back its European operations, leftist lawmakers have proposed nationalising the French operations, with a bill set for debate in the Senate on February 25.
“I must thank President Macron and the French government who — very early on — understood the challenges the European steel industry was facing,” Arcelor’s CEO Aditya Mittal said in a statement. “Their support, and in particular their efforts to drive changes to the mechanisms defending the steel market, will benefit the entire steel industry in Europe, starting here in Dunkirk.”
© 2024 AFP
