Corporate Responsibility Report 2022-2023
Outcome 10 – Our contribution to society measured, shared and valued
We want to actively contribute to a society with greater well-being
ArcelorMittal Belgium’s sponsorship budget amounted to €116,170 in 2022 and to €181,895 in 2023.
- Following the war in Ukraine which started in February 2022, ArcelorMittal Belgium joined the UNICEF initiative set up by the ArcelorMittal Group, which came about as a direct result of thousands of messages from our colleagues around the world asking how they could help. Every donation from an ArcelorMittal colleague was doubled by a donation from the company.
Within our cluster, we wanted to launch an additional action as a show of solidarity with our Ukrainian ArcelorMittal colleagues. Indeed, 300 family members of employees of ArcelorMittal Ukraine were staying in hotels in Poland. They were traumatized by the war experience in Ukraine and primarily needed rest and leisure activities. Therefore, we collected the following items: (soccer) balls, bicycles (for adults and children), walking sticks (since they all stayed in mountainous areas), outdoor games for children of different ages (e.g., badminton sets), some light waterproof jackets for spring, sports caps, reusable water bottles, etc. Between March 21 and April 8, 2022, these materials were collected in our sites in Ghent, Geel, Genk and Liège.
- Following the earthquake in Syria and Turkey in February 2023, the ArcelorMittal Group donated $5 million for emergency aid to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. The $5 million was divided equally between two organizations, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Within our cluster, we also want to launch a concrete action as a show of solidarity. According to the United Nations, the focus was currently on humanitarian aid and care for survivors, such as arranging shelter and food. We have therefore chosen the local aid action of the non-profit organization ‘Burgerplicht’: ‘Klein Gent: the warmest village’ which aims to provide a warm home for at least 300 families in the earthquake area. The non-profit organization ‘Burgerplicht’ works together with about twenty organizations in Ghent and Helping Hands Belgium. Helping Hands Belgium has been successfully active in the earthquake region for many years and received through its good contacts on the ground, land for 300 housing units, close to the field hospital of B-Fast, which they also work well with. Each housing unit houses a family of 4 and has the necessary sanitary utilities. As a company, ArcelorMittal Belgium committed itself by already financing one residential unit. Together with donations from our employees, we wanted to finance a total of 3 residential containers, thus contributing to this beautiful housing project. This objective was achieved, €11,909 of donations were raised. - On October 23, 2022, a new edition of Urban Trail was organized in Ghent. Six thousand runners made their way through the ten kilometers long route that stretches along known and unknown parts of Ghent. The non-profit organization ‘Onafhankelijk Leven’ (‘Independent Living’) traditionally participates in the Urban Trail. ‘Onafhankelijk Leven’ stands for living with a disability and despite that disability still overcome the obstacles in life, sometimes with the help of assistants. Therefore, also wheelchair users participate in the running race. To do so, they were looking for teams of 10 runners to assist them to complete the course safely. 10 ArcelorMittal Belgium colleagues guided a wheelchair user through the course, over stairs, bridges, and cobblestones.
- We also take part in numerous other running races, where part of the entry fee goes to a good cause:
- The ‘Stadsloop Gent’ or ‘Gent Marathon’ where the proceeds went to the non-profit organization Sportaround, an organization that strives to provide sports opportunities for all (especially children from vulnerable neighborhoods).
- The ‘20 km through Brussels’: by participating, the ArcelorMittal Belgium runners supported the charity ‘Rikolto’ (new name of ‘Vredeseilanden’).
- The ‘ABSoluut Gent 10 Mile”: the participants ran for the charity ‘Kom op tegen Kanker’.
- In July 2022, our colleague Tom Dossche from the general services department walked no less than 190 km from the site in Ghent to Liège, to raise money for the seven-year-old Aline from Liège. With his action, Tom collected no less than €7,035 for the organization Herent Helpt, an organization that actively works to help the families affected by the 2021 water disaster in every way possible. Aline is a girl with physical and mental disabilities. During last year’s flood, her wheelchair bike was swept away with the water, and her family could not afford a a new one. Thanks to Tom’s initiative, half of the amount needed to purchase a new wheelchair bike collected.
- In December 2022, ArcelorMittal Belgium organized an action to benefit the ‘Warmest Week’, the Flemish Radio & Television solidarity action, which is organized annually in the week before Christmas, (counterpart in Wallonia is ‘Viva for Life’). Employees were also asked to support people affected by disadvantage through donations. We have contacted several organizations that are committed to helping people living in difficult situations on different areas. These organizations could well use our help through donations of specific goods (e.g., food and care products, toys). We have asked the organizations themselves what materials they need so that we can use the donations effectively. To this end, collection points were set up in Ghent, Geel, Genk and Liege.
Besides that, in the framework of the World Cup Football, we challenged the many ArcelorMittal Belgium soccer fans to put their pronostics for charity. Hundreds of participants took up this challenge. - In 2022, the action of the ‘Warmste Week’ was combined with the ‘Day of the Volunteer’. 16 collaborators were willing to participate to the Volunteer Day during their working hours for the good cause. They were asked to help sort the goods, check due dates, and bring them to the organizations. Here you will find a list of the organizations selected for Warmest Week and Volunteer Day:
- De Sloep: An organization focused on low-threshold support for vulnerable families.
- The Social Grocer Evergem: a store where people in poverty can purchase basic products at greatly reduced prices can purchase basic products.
- Welzijnsschakel food bank Lochristi: a working group that distributes food free of charge to those who are financially unable or barely able to support themselves and and cannot turn to institutions such as the OCMW to do so.
- CPAS Flémalle offers a protection scheme for individuals and families who find themselves in a difficult financial situation.
- Vincentius Genk: organization that helps the less fortunate of the Genk region. They offer both humanitarian and material support.
- Mensen in Nood (‘People in Need’) Geel: helps people in Geel who are struggling.
Across all ArcelorMittal Belgium we collected more than 1,700 goods. Based on the number of participants in the World Cup competition and the goods collected, ArcelorMittal Belgium donated 12,000 euros, divided between The Warmest Week and Viva for Life.
- Warmest Week actions were organized again in 2023:
- A dessert sale and baking action at ArcelorMittal Gent and Genk.
- A catering offer of sandwiches and snacks for the benefit of the Warmest Week in ArcelorMittal Gent’s company restaurant.
- A collection of non-perishable food at ArcelorMittal Geel for the benefit of ‘Mensen in Nood’ (‘People in Need’) in Geel.
- A collection campaign at ArcelorMittal Liège for the benefit of the CPAS of Flémalle. It involved goods such as blankets, quilts, or warm sweaters, baby hygiene products (wipes, shower gel, etc.), snacks and juices for children, canned fruit.
- An action on Strava, an online platform for athletes, in which the ArcelorMittal-Belgium athletes had to collect as many km as possible for charity.
Based on these successful actions, ArcelorMittal Belgium donated €10,000, divided between The Warmest Week and Viva for Life.
- On December 8, 2023, we organized a Volunteer Day. This initiative aims to promote volunteering. It illustrates that our employees want to fully assume their social responsibility to the fullest. Some 20 volunteers performed volunteer work in one of the following organizations that we support:
- VZW Stappen is a small-scale guidance home for girls between 14 and 18 years placed by the juvenile court or the gateway Integral Youth Assistance because of a problematic educational situation or an offense described as a crime.
- CAW: The Centre for General Welfare Work (CAW) East Flanders is a non-profit organization that is active in the assistance to underprivileged people from the Ghent area.
- Bird shelter Merelbeke: Since 1982 there has been a shelter in Merelbeke where annually about 5,000 wild animals are cared for with the intention of returning them to nature after recovery.
- The Triangel in Lovendegem offers support to persons with mental and additional disability (autism spectrum disorder, behavioral and/or emotional problems, motor, sensory disability).
- Kras Toontje is helping to reduce poverty in Gentbrugge.
- The Sint-Jan-Baptist psychiatric center in Zelzate. Based on professionalism and expertise, doctors and staff guarantee treatment, guidance, meaning and care to patients and residents in the target groups of addiction care, forensic care, geriatric psychiatry, and the psychiatric nursing home.
- Zilverbos residential care center in Zelzate is an association that provides care to dependent and sick elderly people.
In addition to projects combating poverty, we also support cultural initiatives.
- ArcelorMittal Belgium is an active member of ‘La Maison de la Métallurgie’. Since its creation in 1990, ArcelorMittal Belgium also participates in updating its educational program. After all, the steel industry is undergoing permanent major changes that have characterized recent history.
ArcelorMittal Belgium was asked by the ‘Maison de la Métallurgie’ to preserve one of the torpedo cars from the former Chertal site and decided to donate one. Thanks to this donation (in February 2022), which is of great symbolic value, a figurehead of Liège’s industry will be preserved. This donation came at a time when ArcelorMittal Belgium had started the dismantling of the Chertal site and of blast furnace B after obtaining the environmental permits in August 2021. - On December 1, 2023, a new exhibition was launched at the Industrial Museum in Ghent that listens to the name ‘Ferro Non Ferro: Discover the magic of metal’. The exhibition immerses visitors in the world of metal industry, full of underexposed stories and underestimated craftsmanship. ArcelorMittal Belgium was participating as a sponsor and has also contributed content to the expo, a.o. by providing material (photo and video material, samples of raw materials and finished products, safety clothing) to the Industrial Museum. We offered the opportunity to 500 collaborators (with partner) to visit this fascinating exhibition on metal.
We are also publicly recognised for our achievements in the field of sustainable business.
- BEMAS Asset Performance Awards 4.0
Lies Casier, serving as the Support Manager at our Progress Academy, had the unique opportunity to represent ArcelorMittal Belgium at the prestigious 2023 BEMAS – Belgian Maintenance Association Asset Performance Awards 4.0. She proudly stood as the representative for the dedicated team working in our steel shop and cold rolling mill, showcasing their remarkable project, the ‘VR 3D Crane Simulator for enhancing crane operator training’. Their efforts were rewarded with the ‘Audience Award’.
