The news warranted a presidential visit. On Tuesday, February 10, Emmanuel Macron traveled to Mardyck, near Dunkirk, to one of ArcelorMittal’s sites to welcome the announcement of the upcoming construction of an electric furnace – the largest for the steel group in Europe. With an estimated production capacity of 2 million metric tons of steel per year, according to Reiner Blaschek, the CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, this furnace is scheduled to start operating in 2029 and is expected to produce steel with “three times less” carbon emissions than a traditional blast furnace. The project requires an investment of €1.3 billion, half of which is to be funded through energy savings certificates – a regulatory mechanism overseen by the French state that encourages carbon dioxide reduction.
The decision is significant for the multinational, the world’s second-largest steel producer, as it had suspended its decarbonization investment plans in Europe since the end of 2024. This was especially true in Dunkirk, whose industrial complex is among the 50 highest greenhouse gas-emitting sites in France. An earlier, more ambitious plan for €1.8 billion in investments – including €850 million in public funding – had aimed to replace two blast furnaces with electric furnaces, but was abandoned in November 2024, raising fears of a gradual withdrawal from France. “We knew people were expecting us, and now we’re here,” said Alain Le Grix de la Salle, the CEO France of the group, on Tuesday.
The operation also illustrates the strategy that Macron wants to intensify in France and coordinate at the European level: protecting against industrial dumping by foreign powers – particularly China – and supporting investment and innovation in technologies linked to environmental protection.
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