A3M and FEDERREC worked together to develop the first Green Steel Pact, signed under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry. Its ambition: to strengthen the circularity of the French steel industry, facilitate its supply of recycled materials and support the development of low CO₂ emission steel production in France.
Decarbonizing, but also producing more in France
Decarbonizing steel is central to French and European industrial policies. For A3M, it is part of a broader ambition: combining decarbonization, circular economy, competitiveness and industrial sovereignty.
The steelmakers united within A3M produce by electric oven (EAF)This is a very low-CO₂ emission process that relies heavily on the use of recycled scrap metal. This circular economy for metals has been an established industrial reality for several decades. They alone already produce 37% of French steel, and their industrial capacity is currently underutilized!
This momentum continues. One A3M member, a ductile iron producer, is gradually rolling out its decarbonization plan, while another is developing a project greenfield carbon flat steel production based on technology DRI-EAF.
The issue is now both environmental and industrial.
After seeing its production decrease by approximately 15 million tonnes in 2017 to 10 million tonnes in 2025The French steel industry should be able to gradually recover a production level of around 12 to 14 million tonnes over the next ten years.
The conditions for an industrial recovery
A3M considers this objective achievable, provided that several essential factors are met.
France and Europe must first have a effective trade protection, robust MACF and ambitious Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA)while correcting the shortcomings of these different systems.
La energy competitiveness It also constitutes a determining factor for a steel industry whose decarbonization relies largely on electrification.
Finally, increasing the production of electric steel requires securing access to a strategic resource: scrap metal, in sufficient volumes and with the quality levels necessary for the production of the different grades of steel.
A3M and FEDERREC: structuring a competitive circular sector together
It is in this context thatA3M and FEDERREC have decided to strengthen their cooperation and to determine the conditions for better aligning the needs of French steelmakers with those of the recycling sector.
This work is now culminating in the signing, under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry, of the first Green Steel Pact.
The Pact defines five priority areas of work :
- support the demand for low CO₂ emission steel;
- to facilitate the supply of French steel mills;
- improve the quality of recycled materials;
- put in place the economic and financial tools to secure investments;
- to recognize recycling as a strategic industrial sector.
A3M thanks François Excoffier and Olivier Le Fichous and Raphaël Rey and David Valenti, for their involvement in the development and implementation of this Pact.
The Pact as a starting point
The Green Steel Pact is not an end in itself, but the starting point for a joint effort between steel producers and recycling companies.
The objective is clear: to make the circularity of metallic materials a lever for decarbonization, competitiveness and sovereigntywhile creating the conditions to produce more steel in France.
The will is there. The work starts now.
