ArcelorMittal said the program takes advantage of an array of initiatives it is undertaking to cut blast furnace carbon emissions.

Under the program, customers can buy so-called XCarb green steel certificates with their physical orders of steel and use the credit to offset their own Scope 3 emissions. 

“For the first time we are bringing on the market, under our brand, decarbonized steel,” Geert Van Poelvoorde, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Europe, told the Bloomberg news service. “It’s a magic moment for us.”

ArcelorMittal said it will have about 600,000 equivalent metric tons of green steel available for sale by the end of 2022. 

The certificate program is one facet of a new ArcelorMittal initiative meant to achieve demonstrable progress toward carbon-neutral steel.

As part of the branded XCarb initiative, the company has created a US$100 million innovation fund that will invest in groundbreaking companies developing technologies with potential to accelerate the steel industry’s decarbonization efforts. 

The company also has created a special designation for flat and long products produced from scrap melted in an electric arc furnace powered by renewable electricity. 

“Our launch of XCarb today brings the full breadth of our decarbonization activity together under a single umbrella brand,” said ArcelorMittal chief executive Aditya Mittal.  

“It aims to demonstrate to stakeholders the diverse range of initiatives we are undertaking in pursuit of our 2050 net zero goal while also providing our customers with solutions which help them address their own carbon reduction targets, demonstrating the important role steel has to play in a future, circular economy.”