Aperam announces its 2030 environmental objectives

Aperam, the world's greenest stainless steel producer, announces today its targets to significantly reduce its environmental footprint by 2030, and its ambition to become carbon neutral in its European operations by 2050. Aperam is convinced that it can materially improve its environmental performance by following its strategic roadmap considering new technical solutions and the development of public policies.

The 2030 objectives against the 2015 baseline are:  -15% CO2 emissions, -11% energy usage (electricity and natural gas), -40% water intake, -70% in dust emissions, and target waste recycling rate >97%. These targets are replacing the Company's 2020 objectives, on which substantial progress was made already. Aperam will continue to report on its advancement on a yearly basis in its Sustainability report (Sustainability Report 2018: Link). The 2030 targets will also be integrated into site-level management objectives.

Commenting, Aperam CEO Tim di Maulo said: "Aperam is the world's greenest stainless steel producer thanks to its European production route based on fully recyclable stainless steel scrap, and the use of charcoal from our sustainably cultivated forests in Brazil. The full recyclability of our products combined with our reliable and safe production process makes Aperam's products a key building block for a sustainable future and a perfect example of circular economy. We are convinced that our environmental excellence, together with best practices in terms of ethics, governance, community engagement, and corporate citizenship are becoming increasingly more important to our stakeholders and a differentiating factor. Aperam joined ResponsibleSteel(TM) in May 2019 and will start the certification process to ultimately assure all its stakeholders that sustainability is truly embedded in our products and part of our Company's vision. Today's announcement of targeting carbon neutrality is a strong signal that we aim to go much beyond our new set of goals for 2030 and work towards the objective of the Paris Agreement (COP 21) to reduce global warming below 2०C. To achieve carbon neutrality, Aperam is building a strategic roadmap linked to the developments in low-emissions steelmaking technologies. Aperam has also implemented an internal price for CO2 which is being applied to all investment appraisals since 2016. Finally, a set of public policies to develop clean energy and restore a global level playing field is another key element for reducing global warming. Vast amounts of stainless steel with an embedded CO2 footprint of 4 to 5 times that of domestically produced material are imported into the European Union. This material has a large environmental impact on our planet but is displacing products that are responsibly produced by the European stainless steel industry. The situation is unsustainable and detrimental to the European Commission's Green Deal, which Aperam is supporting."

Source and photo: Aperam S.A.