PARIS (Reuters) -Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said the French government would support its green transition efforts which include investments in two sites in northern France, worth 1.7 billion euros ($1.95 billion).
The company’s latest projects come as French President Emmanuel Macron’s governments looks to step up investments in northern France – traditionally an industrial heartland of the country – ahead of April’s presidential election.
Two of ArcelorMittal’s steelmaking sites in Fos-sur-Mer and Dunkirk, both situated in the north of France, will be transformed while maintaining equivalent production capacities.
In Fos-sur-Mer, the company plans to install an Electric Arc Furnace, using the electric power grid rather than coal while in Dunkirk, ArcelorMittal is banking on hydrogen, combined with an electric furnace.
The investment will contribute to achieving the goal of reducing carbon emissions from producing steel by close to 40% by 2030.
The move “put France’s steelmaking industry on the path of the Paris Agreement”, the company said, referring to a multilateral agreement signed between 195 countries in 2015 to limit man-made global warming.
($1 = 0.8726 euros)
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
