Le Mont-Saint-Michel, France, May 31, 2024 - With the Olympic torch arriving at the world heritage Mont-Saint-Michel, its manufacturer, ArcelorMittal, is being challenged to stop backtracking on decarbonisation and step up to take serious action on climate change.

Rising sea levels will drive irrevocable change to the landscape around Mont-Saint-Michel. Steelmaking is a carbon intensive industry, and ArcelorMittals’ plans are judged to be on track for 3.2C of warming (1). Scientists estimate sea levels will rise in the area by 67cm this century if climate change is left unabated at 3C.

The company recently publicly announced that it is not able to set a climate target that aligns with limiting climate change to 1.5C (2).

While ArcelorMittal makes a lot of shiny claims about its climate plans, it is making a lot of excuses for backtracking on clean projects in Europe, as it expands coal-based production in countries like India and Brazil. Being a market-making steel producer with a global footprint means ArcelorMittal has a significant responsibility to cut its emissions in line with the IPCC 1.5C limits, influencing the rest of the industry with its actions.

The Fair Steel coalition and local art troupe Le Bruit qui Court have drawn attention to the company’s failures on climate and contribution to rising sea levels, staging a photo and a performance in front of the Mont. The groups underscore that ArcelorMittal’s “shiny claims” won’t stop sea level rise threatening more than world heritage sites, and its Olympic sponsorship won’t greenwash away its coal addiction.

“ArcelorMittal makes a big song and dance about its climate plans, but while it’s busy spending vast sums of money on shareholders and sponsoring the Olympics, it’s failing to spend it on the most important thing for its future and ours: transforming its business from one based on the dirty flames of coal, to one that is clean and sustainable,” said Pascal Husting, Shiny Claims, Dirty Flames spokesperson.

“Like many sponsors, ArcelorMittal is using the platform of the Olympic Games to improve its image. We want to make them live up to their commitments. The steel industry can seem obscure and distant, but we want to use a sensitive approach to make its climate impact on our lives tangible, more resonant with people,” said Ulysse Vassas, Le Bruit Qui Court spokesperson.

ENDS

Contacts:

Pascal Husting - Spokesperson (EN/FR)

Shiny Claims, Dirty Flames campaign

+352 621 887 730

Ulysse Vassas - Spokesperson (FR)

Le Bruit Qui Court+33 674 332 322, ulysse@le-bruit-qui-court.fr

Media Liaison

Greg McNevin (EN)

Communications, SteelWatch (Australia)

greg@steelwatch.org, +61 475 247 044

Xavier De Wannemaeker (EN/FR)

Media Liaison (France)

+31 6 2635 9683

Notes:

1. Sea level rise estimate: https://sealevel.nasa.gov/ipcc-ar6-sea-level-projection-tool?psmsl_id=454&data_layer=warmingArcelorMittal ESG an Climate rating: https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/esg-investing/esg-ratings-climate-search-tool/issuer/arcelormittal-sa/IID000000002157753
2. The company’s latest Integrated Annual Review, published in April 2024, stated: “We appreciate the work that SBTi has done to model a 1.5C trajectory for steel. After much discussion and consideration, we have concluded that in the absence of an appropriate global policy, we are not in a position to credibly set a science-based aligned group target at this point in time.” (emphasis added). https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/media/press-releases/arcelormittal-publishes-its-2023-integrated-annual-review
3. Photography of the activities in Mont Saint Michel is available here: https://tinyurl.com/ycykhs6x As part of its official Olympic sponsorship, ArcelorMittal has provided “steel with a reduced carbon footprint” for the torch that is carrying the Eternal Flame, and the cauldron. The reduced carbon footprint comes from two factors: First, the steel is 100% made from scrap in an electric arc furnace (EAF); and second, ArcelorMittal indirectly buys enough renewable electricity to cover the consumption of the EAF. ArcelorMittal says the combination of the two can lead to a carbon footprint “as low as approximately 300kg of CO2 per tonne of finished steel”, though it does not indicate the exact total carbon footprint of the torches. This process is not new, recycled steel is useful but common. It does not represent a technological shift to decarbonise on a pathway that is compatible with the Paris Agreement or a 1.5C climate scenario.
4. SteelWatch Arcelormittal Corporate Climate Assessment 2024: https://steelwatch.org/reports/arcelormittal-corporate-climate-assessment-2024/ In Spain, ArcelorMittal secured a EUR450 million government grant to develop zero emissions, green hydrogen-based steelmaking. However, it has already watered down these plans, opting to delay the use of green hydrogen in favour of carbon intensive fossil gas, all while apparently clinging on to the subsidy.
5. The Fair Steel coalition has also documented instances of land grabs, ecosystem destruction, loss of livelihoods, and serious health problems have been documented, as well as ArcelorMittal’s silence on enforced disappearances around its mines and steel plants in Mexico, Brazil, Liberia, and South Africa, in the new report: The Real Cost of Steel https://edlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Real-Cost-of-Steel.pdf
6. Shiny Claims, Dirty Flames (http://shiny.claims) is a campaign organised by an alliance of different organisations, facilitated by the Fair Steel Coalition, and hosted by SteelWatch, calling on ArcelorMittal to:
   1. Respect human rights, in actions not just words;
   2. Stop making empty promises and be a real climate champion;
   3. Invest in future proofing your company, not enriching shareholders;
   4. Put workers, communities, and our environment first;
   5. Stop its dirty tricks: be accountable and transparent.