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Home › Dodgy Deals ›
Target Dodgy Deal
ArcelorMittalLuxembourg

Company – Target

This profile is a priority campaign target
Contact:

Julia Hovenier, Banks and steel campaigner

julia@banktrack.org

Last update: 2023-04-11 00:00:00
At the entrance to the eastern industrial zone of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, Kazakhstan, 10 August 2013. Photo: Nikolay Olkhovoy, via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)

Company – Target

This profile is a priority campaign target
Contact:

Julia Hovenier, Banks and steel campaigner

julia@banktrack.org

Last update: 2023-04-11 00:00:00
Why this profile?

Why this profile?

ArcelorMittal is the world’s second largest steel producer. Its coal-based operations emit enormous amounts of CO2 and pollution, creating adverse health effects for steel workers and proximate communities. Despite having announced a net-zero by 2050 target, ArcelorMittal champions ineffective, coal-perpetuating solutions such as Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and biomass, and has announced plans to build new blast furnaces in India, the most polluting type of steel plant.

What must happen

Banks should require ArcelorMittal to fully decarbonise its production process and to not open new, or extend the lifetime of existing coal-based steel plants, regardless of location, while respecting human rights and Indigenous rights in particular. They should make future financing conditional upon the achievement of these objectives.

In addition, banks should urge ArcelorMittal not to rely on unproven technologies such as carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). Rather, banks should finance fossil-free production technologies, like electric arc furnaces, and green hydrogen based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) facilities. If green hydrogen is not initially available in the location of the plant, financiers should require a detailed transition timeline.

About
Sectors Iron and Steel Manufacturing , Coal Mining, Mining
Headquarters
Ownership
listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange

The Mittal Lakshmi Niwas Family are the largest shareholders, and own 38.75% of the shares. 

Subsidiaries
Website https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/

ArcelorMittal is a Luxembourg-based company and the world’s second largest producer of steel. In 2021 it produced 69,061 million tonnes of steel, emitting 160.3 million tonnes of CO2. It currently operates 31 steel plants globally, and 81% of its production capacity is coal-based. 30% of its crude steel is produced in the Americas, 53% is produced in Europe and the remaining 17% produced in Ukraine, South Africa and Kazakhstan. In addition to steel production, ArcelorMittal operates 12 iron ore mines globally, and one metallurgic coal mine in Kazakhstan. Despite having announced a target to be net-zero by 2050, ArcelorMittal is building new coal-based blast furnaces in India, and is thought to be considering others in Mexico and Brazil.

Impacts

Impact on human rights and communities

Health impact of air pollution ArcelorMittal has been sued for breaching air pollution laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2016), France (2022), India (2021), Kazakhstan (2018), South Africa (2019), and the United States (2015). In each of these cases, local populations suffered adverse health effects such as asthma, pulmonary cancer and premature fatalities; brought on by particulate matter and sulphur dioxide emissions from an ArcelorMittal steel plant. In many of the cases, the air and water pollution has led to crop failure, sick livestock, and local produce being unfit for human consumption. In March 2023, French reporting outfit Disclose found that ArcelorMittal’s french plant is exceeding air pollution limits and misrepresenting its emissions numbers. In the town of Taranto in Southern Italy, a 2021 World Health Organisation report found that ArcelorMittal’s Ilva plant has caused premature mortality and irreversible damage to local inhabitants' health. 

Threatening Indigenous livelihoods Together with Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, ArcelorMittal owns the Mary River iron ore mine in the north Qikiqtaaluk (North Baffin) region in Canada. Since the mine opened in 2014, there has been a significant decrease in wildlife, compromising the food security of the native Nuluujaat population. Despite protests from the Nuluujaat and activists acting in solidarity in Luxembourg, ArcelorMittal and Baffinland have announced plans to expand the mine, which would further endanger the narwhal seal populations on which the Nuluujaat depend. 

Fatal working conditions Five workers were killed in a methane explosion in the Abayskaya coal mine in Kazakhstan in June 2022. In the same month, an investigation by state industrial safety inspectors found 200 industrial safety violations at the mine. Between its steel mill and coal mine operations, there have been estimated 100 deaths at ArcelorMittal mines in Kazakhstan since 2006. Negligence and faulty inspections or reporting has resulted in fatal working conditions for mine and steel plant workers. 

Deaths of human rights defenders The Peña Colorada iron-ore mine in Mexico is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Ternium. Since the mine began operations in the 1970s, there have been several instances of murder and the disappearance of local activists. In April 2021, an Indigenous activist, lawyer and politician named José Santos Isaac Chávez was found dead, with evidence of torture. He was a fierce opponent of the mine continuing operations in the area. While there is no evidence that ArcelorMittal and Ternium have procured the death of any human rights defenders, independent investigators have been denied entry onto the operating site by ArcelorMittal and Ternium, creating a hostile and intransparent environment. 

Failure to pay millions in sustainable development funds When ArcelorMittal began operations in Liberia in 2005, it signed Liberia’s Mineral Development Agreement (MDA). An amendment to the agreement signed into action in 2007 stipulated that ArcelorMittal will build hospitals, schools, and reinvest a proportion of its profits back into the community. As of 2021, ArcelorMittal has not implemented the agreement, leading to protests by affected communities and legislative action to prevent the new MDA from being renewed. As of August 2023, a new MDA has not been negotiated between ArcelorMittal and the Liberian government.


Impact on climate

High carbon emissions ArcelorMittal is the world’s second largest steel producer and 81% of its portfolio is coal-based production. In 2020, it disclosed that its global metal and mining operations emitted 160.3 million tonnes of CO2. That is more than the emissions of entire countries such as the Philippines or the Netherlands. The total warming potential of ArcelorMittal’s operations is higher, as this figure does not include methane emissions from the company’s coal mines, or from its operations in the United States and Italy. At present, there is no accounting or mitigation strategy underway for ArcelorMittal’s coal mine methane. 

Unserious climate commitments ArcelorMittal has announced a net-zero by 2050 target. However its recent joint-venture with Nippon Steel to build a new coal-based steel plant in India suggests that it is  not serious about this target. To remain under 1.5°C, no new coal-based steel plants should come online after 2025, unless using carbon capture utilisation and storage. The plant in India will come online in 2025-2026, without carbon capture. 

Reliant on unproven net-zero technology To reach its net-zero targets, ArcelorMittal has opted in part for carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), starting with its plant in Belgium. CCUS has a history of underperforming in similarly “hard-to-abate” sectors, and further perpetuates coal-based steel production when alternative production routes exist. With no commercial scale CCUS steel plants operating globally, ArcelorMittal is unlikely to meet its net-zero by 2050 target using CCUS. As another decarbonisation strategy, ArcelorMittal has championed replacing coal with biomass. As a solution for industry decarbonisation, biomass puts severe pressure on natural resources, and does not achieve meaningful net reductions in emissions. 

Lobbying to weaken climate policy In its climate policy engagement rating, InfluenceMap has given ArcelorMittal a “D+” rating score. While often publicly making climate-positive statements, behind the scenes ArcelorMittal has lobbied to weaken EU-level climate legislation such as the Carbon Border Tax mechanism and the Emissions Trading Scheme.


Impact on nature and environment

Water pollution Governments and civil society organisations in Canada, France, India, Liberia, Ukraine, and the United States have filed lawsuits against ArcelorMittal for dumping toxic waste into water sources. The illegal disposal of the toxic by-products of iron ore mining and steel production has polluted groundwater sources, killed fish populations, and compromised delicate ecosystems. 

Financiers

The banks listed below provided credit (through loans and bonds underwriting) to ArcelorMittal and/or its subsidiaries between 2016 and 2022. For a list of ArcelorMittal's shareholders see here.

Institution type
Finance type
Year
Projects

Hazira Blast Furnace Expansion

India
Project
Active
Iron and Steel Manufacturing

Hazira Blast Furnace Expansion

India
There are no active project profiles for ArcelorMittal now.

Cernavoda nuclear power plant (units 3 & 4)

Romania
Project
On record
Nuclear Electric Power Generation

Cernavoda nuclear power plant (units 3 & 4)

Romania
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Fire kills five at ArcelorMittal’s coal mine in Kazakhstan

ArcelorMittal Temirtau is working with government agencies to assess the cause of the accident at the mine.
2023-08-21 | Mining Technology
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Steel union head calls ArcelorMittal bid for US Steel 'foolish'

He said he was not happy with how ArcelorMittal has treated workers in the past
2023-08-21
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Kazakhstan: Journalist Diana Saparkyzy Forcibly Expelled from Mine After Reporting on Fatal Fire

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns this assault on the reporter and demands immediate answers from mining company ArcelorMittal Temirtau
2023-08-18 | The Coalition for Women in Journalism
Blog
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

The new coal pipeline that lies beneath the steel industry

Steelmaking is expanding fast, this could be terrible news for the climate
2023-04-25 | Paris | Reclaim Finance
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

ArcelorMittal France Assessing Cause of Blast-Furnace Fire at Dunkerque Site

2023-03-31 | MarketWatch
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

AMNS Luxembourg signs $5 bn loan deal with Japanese banks for Indian ops

2023-03-31 | Kolkata, India
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

ArcelorMittal Poland will start the modernization of blast furnace no. 2 in March

2023-03-23 | Poland | ArcelorMittal
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

Ex Ilva di Taranto, transizione impossibile

Illva of Taranto, impossible transition (In Italian)
2023-03-10 | Italy | Investigative Reporting Project Italy
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

ArcelorMittal : révélations sur un pollueur hors-la-loi

ArcelorMittal: revelations about an outlaw polluter (In French)
2023-03-10 | Disclose
BankTrack news BankTrack blog Partner news Partner blog

ArcelorMittal’s path to net zero emissions under scrutiny as new coal-based blast furnaces in India contrasts with low-carbon steelmaking in Europe and Canada

2023-02-16 | Australia | Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
Resources
Documents
Links
2023-08-01 00:00:00

ArcelorMittal August 2023 ESG report

Company document
2023-08-01 00:00:00 | ArcelorMittal
2022-08-01 00:00:00

Environmental Impact Assessment for Hazira Blast Furnace Expansion

Company document
2022-08-01 00:00:00 | ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India
2023-05-17 00:00:00

Briefing: Assessing the credibility of ArcelorMittal’s decarbonization strategy

A briefing for climate conscious financial institutions
Partner publication
2023-05-17 00:00:00 | Cynthia Rocamora, Reclaim Finance
2023-02-16 00:00:00

ArcelorMittal: Green steel for Europe, blast furnaces for India

Partner publication
2023-02-16 00:00:00 | Institue for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
2021-10-01 00:00:00

Detailed assessment of ArcelorMittal’s corporate industry association review

NGO document
2021-10-01 00:00:00 | InfluenceMap
2022-03-01 00:00:00

Mapping ArcelorMittal’s advocacy alignment with the goal of net zero by 2050

Company document
2022-03-01 00:00:00 | ArcelorMittal
2021-07-01 00:00:00

ArcelorMittal Climate Action Report 2021

Company document
2021-07-01 00:00:00 | ArcelorMittal
2023-03-08 00:00:00

ArcelorMittal Annual Report 2022

Annual report
2023-03-08 00:00:00 | ArcelorMittal

GEM Profile: ArcelorMittal

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