ArcelorMittal's facilities in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and Spain have joined the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS), following ArcelorMittal Germany, which was one of the founding members of the initiative in 2024. In addition, Frederik Van De Velde, CEO of ArcelorMittal Belgium, has joined the board of directors of LESS.
Although LESS is a voluntary standard supporting industrial decarbonization, steel producers representing over 45% of steel production in Europe have now joined the initiative. This is an important step towards a consistent and trustworthy labeling system for low-carbon steel in Europe.
Despite the increasing demand for low-carbon steel, the vast majority of steel in Europe is still produced using traditional methods.
Commenting on LESS and its potential for steel producers in Europe, Frederik Van De Velde said:
“Currently, there isn't an industry-wide definition or standard for low-carbon steel. We hope that the Low Emission Steel Standard will be widely adopted and eventually become the recognized benchmark for our sector, supported by producers, customers, and regulatory bodies. A consistent standard is crucial for making progress in decarbonizing the steel industry.”
An important next step is to establish binding sustainability criteria in public projects to encourage the use of low-carbon steel and create pioneering green markets that are crucial.”
ArcelorMittal is the leading supplier of low-carbon steel in Europe and sold 400,000 tonnes of its XCarb® steel in 2024.
A wide range of ArcelorMittal products are already available under the XCarb® label, either as:
- XCarb® Recycled and Renewably Produced (made in an electric furnace, using renewable electricity and a high proportion of recycled steel), or
- XCarb® Certificates, which can be purchased together with physical steel. These certificates are issued by ArcelorMittal and are based on CO₂ savings that are verified by an independent body.
The European Commission's Steel and Metal Action Plan, published in March of this year, includes several proposals that, once implemented, could further boost the emergence of green pioneer markets in Europe. The future law on accelerating the decarbonization of industry aims to introduce resilience and sustainability criteria for European products in public tenders, to stimulate demand for low-carbon steel produced in the EU. This should increase the use of such steel in sectors such as the automotive and construction industries.
As for ArcelorMittal's capacity to produce low-carbon steel on a larger scale, the company continues to optimize its decarbonization pathway to ensure its competitiveness and appropriate return on investment.
However, large-scale decarbonization projects are progressing more slowly than originally expected due to insufficient policy and market-oriented developments. Current investments in Europe are focused on a new electric arc furnace (EAF) in Gijón, Spain, and an expansion of the EAF in Sestao, Spain, both of which are intended to further expand the production capacity of low-carbon XCarb® steel.
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