ArcelorMittal will invest approximately $1.2 billion in decarbonization technologies at its Asturias plant in Gijón, Spain. The project will reduce CO₂ emissions at the company’s Spanish operations by up to 4.8 million metric tons, which represents approximately 50% of emissions, within the next five years. At the heart of the plan is a 2.3 million-metric-ton green-hydrogen direct reduced iron (DRI) unit, complemented by a 1.1 million-metric-ton hybrid electric-arc furnace (EAF). This starts the transition of the Gijón plant away from the blast-furnace and basic-oxygen-furnace steelmaking production route to the DRI-EAF production route, which carries a significantly lower carbon footprint. The new DRI, which ArcelorMittal says will be the first of its kind in Spain, and EAF will be in production before the end of 2025. 

To maximize the emissions reduction potential, green hydrogen will ultimately be used to reduce the iron ore in the DRI, and the EAF will be powered by renewable electricity. The Gijón DRI will also feed the company’s Sestao plant, which is located approximately 250 km from Gijón, where production is already entirely from the EAF route. This means that ArcelorMittal Sestao will produce 1.6 million metric tons of steel and be the world’s first full-scale steel plant to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2025.