ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products and Knauf Interfer enter into partnership to promote a sustainable future

15 July 2024

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder towards carbon neutrality: ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products and Knauf Interfer are jointly driving forward the sustainability goals set and have an agreement for ArcelorMittal to supply Knauf Interfer with CO₂-reduced steel, which saves more than two thirds of CO₂ emissions in production. Knauf Interfer, in turn, can pass these CO₂ savings on to its customers.

In this way, the two partners want to safeguard the supply chain. Here, Knauf Interfer forms a central interface between steel manufacturers and customers, both through its Steel Service Centres and through its own blanking and cold rolling activities.

Knauf Interfer actively supports its customers in the green transformation and helps them to implement their individual CO₂ reduction targets optimally and reliably. To this end, Knauf Interfer processes the steel into slit strip, sheets, formed blanks or cold-rolled precision steel for applications in segments such as drives, engines or seats. CO₂ savings are achieved through steel with the "XCarb^® recycled and renewably produced" label (with demonstrably CO₂-reduced production) and also through the sale of "XCarb^® green steel certificates" in line with customer requirements. The "XCarb^_® recycled and renewably produced" product uses at least 75% recycled scrap, which is melted in an electric arc furnace using renewable energy. Thanks to the close partnership between the two companies, Knauf Interfer will soon be using XCarb^® recycled and renewably produced in series production in several customer projects.

The production process reduces CO₂ emissions by around 70 percent. These savings are independently reported in environmental product declarations (EPDs), giving Knauf Interfer customers the opportunity to reduce their own environmental impact.

"The collaboration with Knauf Interfer is an important step for us to achieve our sustainability goals. By 2030, we want to save 35 percent of CO₂ emissions in Europe and be carbon neutral globally by 2050," says Rainer Böse, CMO North of ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products. "Delivering the steel with XCarb^® recycled and renewably produced and XCarb^® green steel certificates underlines our commitment to innovation and environmental protection. Many end users benefit from the integration of the value chain with steel production at ArcelorMittal and further processing by Knauf Interfer."

Domenico Marino, Member of the Board of Knauf Interfer, adds: "We are pleased to work with ArcelorMittal and take this important step towards reducing CO₂ emissions along the value chain. Sustainability is the dominant theme. In my view, the ArcelorMittal – Knauf Interfer – customer supply chain is excellently positioned for this. This partnership enables us to offer our customers high-quality and more sustainable product alternatives and at the same time make a positive contribution to environmental protection."

The companies of the Knauf Interfer Group are among the most experienced European specialists in the fields of steel and aluminium processing and distribution with a clear focus on the automotive and industrial sectors.