ArcelorMittal launches new season of ‘Futurising’ podcasts

ArcelorMittal (the ‘Company’) has launched a new four-part series of its ‘Futurising’ podcast that focuses on the future of the steel industry and the challenges and opportunities facing ArcelorMittal as it transitions to low-carbon steelmaking, and ultimately net zero. 

Available now on Spotify and YouTube, the podcasts see Tom Cheesewright discuss ArcelorMittal’s goals to decarbonise by 2050 with members of the Company’s executive management team who are intimately involved in shaping and supporting aspects of the Company’s vision to reach net zero. 

Tom is an applied futurist, broadcaster, keynote speaker and author of Future-Proof Your Business. Using his insights into the future of technology, finance, cities, business and culture, he helps organisations to respond to our changing world with innovation, much like ArcelorMittal.

The launch of the podcast is part of a wider conversation around ArcelorMittal’s decarbonisation efforts and ties in with the Company’s target to reduce the carbon intensity of the steel it produces by 25% by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050. The steel industry is experiencing a period of significant and urgent transition as the reduction of carbon emissions becomes an immediate priority. 

Episode 1 of the four-part series is available now, with further episodes released weekly, every Monday.

In this episode, Tom discusses with Nicola and Brad not just the scale of the challenge facing the steel industry, but the opportunities they believe decarbonisation presents and the critical role of steel in helping the world reach net zero. They convey with infectious optimism the confidence they have in ArcelorMittal ability to deliver against the targets the Company has set, and its ambition to lead the steel industry’s transition. They also share their insights into the steps the Company is taking to address the barriers to its transition.

Tom discusses with Pinakin the technical challenges behind producing low-carbon emissions – and ultimately net zero – steel, and the broad range of technologies the Company is developing and deploying to meet that challenge. Pinakin talks about how the Company is leaving no stone unturned in its technology development, and why different low-emissions steelmaking technologies might ultimately be appropriate in different parts of the world.

This episode focuses on the urgency of the net zero challenge, and the very real need to make progress this decade. Manfred talks about the work underway in Ghent, where new and innovative technologies are already being deployed to decarbonise the plant’s raw material supply chain and production processes, and about real steps, happening today, that show the path to a decarbonised steel industry.

James talks about the broader societal implications of the net zero transition – what will happen to the jobs, the communities and the economies of those reliant on the supply chains and processes that we leave behind in the race to decarbonise? He talks about the need for a Just Transition, the principle and practices of what this means, and the complexities of ensuring that no-one is left behind.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is just how critical steel is for the energy transition and for the development of a low-carbon economy. All the solar farms, the wind farms, the electric vehicles, the low-carbon buildings – all of those are going to have steel at their core. There’s a real opportunity for steel in a low-carbon economy and that’s why it’s even more imperative that we manage to decarbonise and reach net zero.”