Corporate Responsibility Report 2022-2023
Outcome 06 – Responsible energy user that helps create a lower carbon future
ArcelorMittal Belgium’s steel is one third greener than steel produced elsewhere in the world.
The CO2 footprint of our site in Ghent is among the lowest worldwide. This is the result of an integrated production process, a balanced capacity between the various production departments, the efficient use of scrap and, of course, the knowledge and expertise of our employees.
Blast furnace & converter route
Within ArcelorMittal Belgium, we produce flat steel products with high added value via a blast furnace route. In our blast furnaces we use iron ore and coal, this respectively in the form of sinter and coke. The coke reduces the sinter to hot metal, which is then converted into liquid steel in the steel shop. During the reduction of sinter, CO and CO2 are formed.
ArcelorMittal Belgium’s CO2 footprint is among the lowest in the world. This is due to a highly optimized production process and the efficient use of scrap. Every ton of steel we produce within our site is 20% more environmentally friendly than a ton of steel produced elsewhere in Europe and 33% more environmentally friendly than steel produced elsewhere in the world.
Did you know?
- 20% of our finished products are made of recycled scrap.
- Every year we melt 1,000,000 tons of scrap.
- We continuously carry out new projects. We invest in new technologies to further reduce our CO2 emissions and work on innovative projects to convert the CO formed during our production process into useful products.
The european emissions trading scheme (ETS)
The European steel sector is subject to the European Emissions Trading System (ETS). This means that an emission right must be submitted for every ton of CO2 emitted. The total quantity of allowances is limited to a specified upper limit. A part is granted for free, to avoid ‘carbon leakage’, and the other part must be traded on the market where the price is determined by supply and demand. The free allocation of CO2 emission allowances is subject to Europe-wide rules and is based on the specific CO2 emissions of the best performing companies (“benchmark level”) and a historical activity level. These benchmark levels are continuously decreased together with the performance increase from the industry. In addition, these free allocations will further decrease from 2026 onwards by a gradual but fast phase-out towards zero free allocation in 2034.
Though we are benchmark in terms of CO2 efficiency, we have been faced with a shortage of free emission rights since 2015. This is because the European benchmark for hot metal production is currently already lower than what is technologically achievable. Despite our very ambitious technological roadmap towards carbon neutral steelmaking, the phase-out of free allocations is faster than what technological innovation can achieve. As a result, our shortage of emission rights will be increasing even more in the coming years. These lacking rights must be purchased, which constitutes a very high cost for our company.
In order to ensure a level playing field between European steel companies and their worldwide competitors, the relatively new EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) needs to be imposed very strictly by European authorities. This CBAM will be gradually phased-in from 2026 onwards.
Breakthrough technologies
To meet this challenge, we are working with various partners on breakthrough ideas. We strongly believe in the integrated production route and want to take a big step forward in terms of innovation and energy efficiency. We increasingly want to recycle a lot of other waste materials besides steel scrap, such as wood, plastic and even our own process gases.
In 2023 we commissioned two new installations: Torero and Steelanol. The Torero installation pre-treats waste wood from container parks to produce biocoal suitable for the blast furnace process. The Steelanol installation then converts CO from the blast furnace gas into ethanol with the help of bacteria. In this way, about 80 million liters of ethanol is produced each year, corresponding to the green energy production of 120 wind turbines.
In addition, we have numerous R&D projects and collaborations with other sectors and research institutes that can all lead to industrial processes to further reduce our CO2 emissions. However, this does not solve the ever-increasing shortages of CO2 emission rights that we will be faced with in the future.
Developing new technologies takes time, and you first must be able to generate profit to be able to realize the investment plans. This can only be done with a level playing field where locally produced European steel and imported steel are treated on an equal basis.
Our decarbonization journey
ArcelorMittal Belgium is passionate about sustainability and circularity and is playing an absolute leading role in the industry in terms of climate transition. ArcelorMittal Belgium is fully engaged in implementing an action plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030 compared to 2018 and to become climate neutral by 2050. This roadmap consists of 3 axes:
- Further improvement of material and energy efficiency through elimination of energy losses, maximum utilization of waste heat, further expansion of renewable energy capacity, increase in scrap consumption, etc.
- Reducing demand for fossil carbon through a combination of gas and electrification.
- Development of Smart Carbon concepts at the heart of the circular economy:
ArcelorMittal Belgium replaces fossil carbon with green and circular carbon, the use of waste wood from container parks through the Torero project is an example. ArcelorMittal Belgium is also active in “Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU),” for example, the Steelanol plant will convert steel gases into 80 million liters of sustainable ethanol per year. Within the framework of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), ArcelorMittal Belgium is working with Fluxys and North Sea Port on a study to build a CO2 hub from which the captured CO2 can be transported to permanent storage sites.
Energy policy agreement
ArcelorMittal Belgium is one of the worlds’ s best in terms of energy efficiency. We are committed to maintaining this position. We have signed the energy policy agreement (EBO) with the Flemish government. Accession to the EBO entails, among other things, a four-yearly review of the various processes in search of further energy efficiency improvement measures.
Our site has already been reviewed three times, each time defining several measures. All measures have been incorporated in an energy plan for all three phases. The implementation of this energy plan is monitored annually by the Verification Bureau Benchmark Flanders.
One of the requirements of the EBO is to implement an energy management system. Because of international demonstrability, we decided to set up an energy management system according to the guidelines of the international standard ISO 50001.
Our departments in Flanders in Ghent, Genk and Geel mapped out their largest energy consumptions and the factors that influence these consumptions. This revealed ‘blind spots’ in the field of energy consumption. As a result, all departments became more aware of their share in the overall energy story. In addition, we carried out internal comparisons between our various departments to improve the energy efficiency of our processes and installations and converted best practices into standard working methods.
In 2023, we were re-certified for the ISO 50001 certificate. The auditors very much praised the effectiveness of our energy management system. They were also particularly impressed by our detailed follow-up systems and the new initiatives that had been taken since the first certification. Our approach of measuring and improving our CO2 footprint was highly appreciated. Every ton we produce more without increasing our global direct and indirect CO2 emissions is called a green ton. We try to produce as many green tons as possible in line with the Paris Agreement. The auditors also stressed the importance of the WCM coordinators for the environment and energy pillar (former Departmental Energy Coordinators) in spreading energy awareness throughout the organization.
Accord de Branche
At our ArcelorMittal site in Liège, we signed the ‘Accord de Branche’. The Liège site consists of various finishing lines located at various geographical locations. By joining the Accord de Branche, we commit ourselves to improving our energy efficiency just as with the EBO framework in Flanders. The realisation of this commitment is monitored annually by the Walloon government.
Important realizations 2022-2023
- Relining of blast furnace A. This relining makes sure that this blast furnace can extend his lifetime to 2030, and this by using the best technologies available. In this way, this blast furnace will be able to produce hot metal as energy efficiently as possible (energy efficiency gains of 371 terajoules or the energy consumption of over 7,000 households)
- Revamping the cokes stabilization process. This is a nice example of how a measure in one department can have a significant impact on the energy consumption in other departments downstream.
- Signing a Letter of Intent with Eneco for a very ambitious plan of installing extra solar panels on all our sites in Belgium, potentially increasing our renewable energy capacity significantly.
Storm inaugurates Belgium’s first subsidy-free wind farm on the grounds of ArcelorMittal Belgium in Ghent
On June 14, 2022, Flemish Minister of Finance and Budget, Housing, and Immovable Heritage Matthias Diependaele inaugurated the first subsidy-free wind farm of Belgium. The wind farm consists of three wind turbines with a rotor diameter of 162m, a tip height of up to 230m and a capacity of 6 MW per turbine.
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These are the largest wind turbines in Belgium. ArcelorMittal Belgium buys all electricity from the wind farm at a fixed price for twenty years. Our steel company thus assures itself of a guaranteed supply of cheap and renewable energy. Storm can therefore realize the wind farm subsidy-free, without calling on the system of green certificates.
The new wind turbines on our sites are another milestone for ArcelorMittal Belgium in terms of renewable energy. We will use the green electricity generated as an integral part of the production of steel, further reducing our carbon footprint. Moreover, these wind turbines are largely made of steel, a striking example of the importance of steel in our daily life and the way steel contributes to sustainable energy.
Construction of the subsidy-free Storm wind farm was recently completed. The wind turbines will annually supply more than 45,000 MWh of electricity to ArcelorMittal Belgium’s production site in Ghent. This corresponds to the equivalent annual electricity consumption of 13,000 families. The wind farm avoids the emission of 11,225 tons of CO2 each year. Construction of the wind farm was started in the spring of 2021. 431 local residents and employees of ArcelorMittal invested directly in the wind farm via the Storm CV cooperative.
