Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is to invest up to 1.8 billion euros to reduce carbon emissions at its Dunkirk steelworks, with financial support from the state, the French government announced Sunday.
France's economy minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday that steelmaker ArcelorMittal was planning to invest €1.8 billion in decarbonising its steel production site in Dunkirk in northern France.
ArcelorMittal has seven steel plants in France – the largest is in Dunkirk and can produce up to seven million tonnes of steel per year.
Reducing CO2 emissions by 6 percent
According to Le Maire, this should make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions from the industrial sector in France by almost 6 percent, despite the fact that the plant is one of the country's fifty highest emitters of greenhouse gases.
The French government will provide aid, validated by the European Union, of up to €850 million depending on the investments actually made.
Emmanuel Macron hailed "a historic agreement" made possible by the France 2030 plan dedicated to innovation.
"In the long term, it will eliminate more than 1 percent of our CO2 emissions", he said in a message on the LinkedIn network.
Carbon-free steel
The money released by the company and the government will be used to build two electric furnaces and a direct iron reduction unit, the first step in producing carbon-free steel.
These installations, which will run on electricity and gas, and eventually hydrogen, will replace the coal-fired furnaces, which should reduce the site's CO2 emissions by 4.4 million tonnes a year.
The investments have not yet been fully validated by ArcelorMittal, but the company is currently carrying out the final studies.
The furnaces and the direct iron reduction unit are due to start operating in 2027.
(with AFP)
