In a statement, the steelmaker said it will scale up its offering of green steel in coming years, reaching 120,000 metric tons in 2021 and 600,000 metric tons by 2022 and delivering on its 30% CO₂ emissions reduction target by 2030.

"Our talented teams across ArcelorMittal Europe are working hard to ensure our CO₂ emissions reduction projects deliver results as fast as possible, on an industrial scale,” Aditya Mittal, president and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Europe, said. “We are focused on being ready for the hydrogen economy and the exciting opportunities this presents for us as European steelmakers.”

Two core technologies are at the center of ArcelorMittal’s strategy: the use of hydrogen in the direct reduced iron (DRI)–electric arc furnace (EAF) process as well as the blast furnace, and expansion of ArcelorMittal’s Smart Carbon route. 

The company said it is able to sell green steel thanks to a number of initiatives that are already underway. Among them is the planned installation of a hydrogen electrolyzer at ArcelorMittal Bremen. Hydrogen produced there can be injected in large volumes into the blast furnace tuyeres, thereby reducing coal consumption. 

To reach net zero, the hydrogen utilized in the steelmaking process will need to be “green” (produced via electrolysis and powered by renewable electricity). ArcelorMittal is therefore developing new facilities to produce green hydrogen using electrolyzers.