Civil society organisation Opportunity Green has filed a complaint against steelmaker ArcelorMittal with the OECD’s national contact point in Luxembourg, accusing the company of failing to align its climate strategy with international guidelines and the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.
In its submission, Opportunity Green argues that ArcelorMittal lacks a credible, science-based climate transition plan and is not reducing emissions at the speed or scale required, despite repeated commitments to do so. The group is calling on the company to publish a revised climate strategy, replacing its last update from July 2021.
ArcelorMittal, Europe’s largest steel producer and the world’s second largest, still manufactures around 75% of its steel using coal-based blast furnaces. The company’s overall carbon footprint is comparable to that of a mid-sized European country, the complaint says.
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Last year, just 18% of ArcelorMittal’s European steel output was produced using electric arc furnaces, compared with 24% in Brazil and 67% in North America. Of the group’s 57.9 million tonnes of crude steel production, 18.8 million tonnes came from recycled steel, down from 20 million tonnes a year earlier.
Spending on decarbonisation
The NGO also points to a gap between ArcelorMittal’s profits and its spending on decarbonisation. The company invested €300 million in decarbonisation projects in 2024, while reporting a net profit of $1.3 billion (€ 1.1 billion). In 2023, ArcelorMittal invested €200 million against a net profit of $919 million (€789 million).
Several high-profile so-called green steel projects announced by ArcelorMittal have since been cancelled or delayed, including hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) plants in Germany, Belgium and Spain. The company has cited high electricity prices, insufficient hydrogen supply and weak economic viability, despite receiving an estimated €3 billion in public funding for its transition plans.
2030 climate target “unlikely to be achieved”
ArcelorMittal has acknowledged that its goal of cutting carbon intensity in Europe by 35% by 2030 is “increasingly unlikely to be achieved”, noting that emissions have so far fallen by only around 5% compared with 2018 levels.
At the same time, the group continues to invest in coal-based steel production outside Europe, including plans for new blast furnaces in India through a joint venture in which it holds a 60% stake.
Opportunity Green also criticises ArcelorMittal for excluding emissions from joint ventures and upstream coal mining activities from its climate targets.
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“Furthermore, the emissions from joint ventures like the one in India are not even factored into the company’s 2030 climate targets, nor are the methane emissions from upstream coal mines associated with the company’s coal consumption,” said Opportunity Green.
The complaint seeks to have ArcelorMittal brought into line with OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, which, while non-binding, form a benchmark for responsible business conduct. The steel sector is estimated to account for around 7% of global CO₂ emissions.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using AI and edited by Kabir Agarwal)
