September 2024

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ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products

Online client newsletter | September 2024

Changing the game

Another sustainability related win-win partnership.

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Developing a leadership position in Product Carbon Footprinting (PCF)

by Anne-Laure Hettinger,
head of Sustainability, ArcelorMittal Global R&D

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Demand from customers for fully verified carbon footprinting of steel products is soaring. Across all sectors customers are requiring ever more granular detail on their supply chains, in order to deliver on their Net Zero and sustainability targets. This increased understanding is contributing to nothing less than a revolution in reducing the carbon impacts of steel products. So ArcelorMittal is committed to not only leading the market in delivering low-carbon emissions steel solutions, but has built the most advanced carbon footprinting capabilities in-house.

We were one of the first steel companies to undertake full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies in the early 2000s, and we have been at the forefront of offering low-carbon emissions steel solutions under our ground-breaking XCarb® brand, now backed up by a growing range of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), primarily for the construction industry. For the non-construction related industries, such as automotive, general industry and packaging, we offer dedicated PCF documentation to answer to these markets’ needs.

Environmental Product Declarations for XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steels exhibit reduced Global Warming Potential (CO2e per ton of steel) up to 75% compared to conventional steels.



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If you would like to learn more about our leadership in Product Carbon Footprinting and how it can benefit your business, please get in touch with your regular ArcelorMittal contact person. We are here to help you meet your sustainability goals.

ArcelorMittal’s pedigree in LCA expertise dates all the way back to 2002 when we undertook our first detailed in-house LCA study. In 2005 we put in place an in-house team of three LCA specialists. In 2015 we started including LCAs as a notable KPI in our ESG reporting, and we have seen substantial growth in the requirements for LCA studies since then, from 16 in 2015 to 63 in 2023. With the growing demands, there is now an in-house team of nine working on LCAs.

We undertook our first EPD in 2012 and demand for them is increasing year on year. An EPD is a third-party verified document effectively summarising life-cycle impacts, and facilitating sustainable and responsible purchasing. They are vetted by recognised independent bodies under ISO 14025 and EN 15804 standards.

Development of LCA expertise at ArcelorMittal

2002
First in-house LCA study
2005
First full-time in-house LCA team of three appointed
2015
LCAs reported for first time as notable KPI in ESG reporting
2022
XCarb® recycled and renewably produced launched – backed up by EPDs & PCFs
2023
24 EPDs issued across Group
63 LCAs undertaken
2025 onwards
Preparing for future decarbonised products footprint assessment

In 2022, we launched XCarb® recycled and renewably produced steel products, which have rapidly taken off with our customers. These are low-carbon emission steels made with at least 75% recycled scrap, produced from electric arc furnaces (EAF), powered with 100% renewable electricity. They are available in specific hot rolled coils or heavy plates, cold rolled, organic coated, hot dip galvanized, Magnelis® and press hardenable steel grades. They can bring carbon footprint improvement of 60-75% compared to conventional steels.

Vestas, the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions, has established a partnership with ArcelorMittal to launch a low-carbon emissions steel offering that significantly reduces the carbon footprint from the production of wind turbine towers.

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With the backdrop of our deeply engrained LCA and EPD expertise, we are providing real granularity of data for our customers – for specific products, based on plant-specific and process-specific assessment of their carbon impacts – not relying as elsewhere on average industry statistics.

And we are working closely with customers to deliver tailored low-carbon solutions. Feedback suggests that the one-to-one technical support we can provide from our Global R&D teams, and their international reach, is an attractive Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which few of our competition can offer to global businesses such as OEMs and construction companies. We are looking at ways of further building on our carbon performance, with the bringing on-stream of more carbon-efficient DRI-EAF plants, and scrutinising and adapting our value chain for incremental carbon savings.


Anne-Laure Hettinger,
head of Sustainability, ArcelorMittal Global R&D

















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