The new target date is a full 15 years earlier than SSAB’s previously announced goal. To meet its new deadline, the company is ready to invest SEK 45 billion to replace the blast furnaces at its Luleå, Sweden, and Raahe, Finland, sites with electric arc furnace technology and new rolling mills. In addition to drastically reducing carbon emissions, the plant upgrades would expand SSAB’s existing portfolio of fossil-free special steels, including advanced high-strength steels and quenched and tempered steels, to meet the needs of the automotive industry.

The investment plan is contingent on environmental permitting and the availability of cost-effective, fossil-free electricity, SSAB said.

“Our customers are demanding fossil-free products from SSAB,” commented Martin Lindqvist, SSAB’s president and chief executive. “We can solve the technical challenges and we have a strong financial position. If we can resolve the question of power supply and environmental permits together with society, then we can make the transition 15 years earlier than the plan communicated previously.”

Read the official press release here.