"We are proud that Carlo Beltrame himself came to us in Dortmund to report on the family group's vision of climate neutrality," explain the two Northwest Steel Division Managers, Christopher Rüther and Claudio Kemper.
The Head of Group Business Development and CEO of the AFV Beltrame sites in France and Romania was accompanied by Alain Creteur (CEO for Switzerland and Managing Director) and Klaus Rieger (Sales Director German-speaking countries), among others. AFV Beltrame Group representatives emphasized to interested industry insiders and audience that they also want to become a leading supplier of sustainable steel. Emissions would have to be significantly reduced and operations made more ecologically sustainable. The steel company also presented measures to achieve this goal, which have already been implemented well ahead of the climate conference in Glasgow with its far-reaching climate resolutions.
The task is very close to the Beltrame family's heart. In the company's view, there is no way around implementing the EU's increasingly stringent, mandatory climate regulations if the company wants to live up to its responsibilities and remain competitive. The Group has therefore drawn up a decarbonization plan for its sites with the aim of reducing its emissions by 40% by 2030 compared with 2015 levels. According to the company, emissions are already well below the average for the steel industry and also below the European emissions average for electric furnace steel.
CO2-neutral Chalibria steel
The central building block in this concept is Chalibria steel. According to the relevant international standards, the steel is certified CO2-neutral. AFV Beltrame is the first producer to sell steel under its own brand name. The name "Chalibria" is a combination of the Latin words "Chalybs" (steel or iron) and "libra" (balance or scales) and thus stands for "steel in balance". The group plans to produce and sell all finished products as Chalibria steel.
AFV Beltrame explained in detail how the company is reducing its own carbon footprint. A total of 45 specific projects in the areas of production efficiency, circular economy, renewable energies and hydrogen solutions were explicitly talked through. With the help of the independent certification body RINA, which calculates on the basis of the applicable ISO standard, it is possible to determine exactly how much CO2 the production of a particular batch of Chalibria steel generates. The certificate is sent to the customer.
Focus on the end user
Klaus Rieger praised the excellent cooperation with Nordwest and appealed to the trade partners present that they are needed as messengers for the product and the brand so that they can explain it to the end consumers. He stressed that AFV Beltrame is not greenwashing but offering a real solution and wants to be a real example with its emission levels.
His company wants to be a leader because he is sure that the demand for green steel will increase, Carlo Beltrame also said. He believes that the efficiency of materials will be a fundamental requirement in a few years, for example in public EU-wide tenders. He added that this will then also affect the choices made by end users.
"I believe that we are obliged to always create new products and make the market aware of sustainable steel production. It's true that the costs will be higher, but I think that's a must, especially in our industrial sector, which emits so much CO2. We, as producers, obviously have to invest to reduce the impact of production on the environment, but customers, on the other hand, obviously have to promote and talk about our products so that the added value of our efforts is recognized by the market."
