Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) — ArcelorMittal withdrew its French
carbon capture project from the first phase of a 1.5 billion-
euro ($1.9 billion) European Commission funding program, raising
the prospect the initial round won’t finance any such projects.
The world’s largest steelmaker pulled out because of
“technical difficulties” and is not abandoning a plan to
gather emissions from the Florange steel mill in northeast
France, the company said today in a statement.
The Commission’s NER300 initiative was designed to get
carbon-capture and storage, or CCS, off the ground as Europe
seeks to lower pollution. With the French project’s withdrawal,
the program’s first phase is unlikely to fund a single CCS
venture, according to Chris Davies, a member of the European
Union Parliament’s Environment Committee. Davies introduced the
NER300 concept to the European Parliament.
“Almost all of the EU funds available to support CCS and
innovative renewable projects across Europe are likely to be
allocated to the letter,” he said in a Nov. 11 statement.
The Commission declined to comment on that prospect when
contacted. Isaac Valero-Ladron, climate spokesman for the
Commission, said ArcelorMittal notified it of the withdrawal.
The project could still compete in the second round of NER300
funding starting next year, he said.
French President Francois Hollande gave ArcelorMittal until
Dec. 1 to either keep 600 threatened jobs at the Florange plant,
sell all of it or face its nationalization. ArcelorMittal had
wanted to shut two blast furnaces at the site. An accord was
reached Nov. 30 that included agreement to mothball the blast
furnaces for the carbon capture program. The company said today
its withdrawal was consistent with that agreement.
Europe is encouraging carbon-capture technology because it
siphons off polluting emissions from factories and power
generation for permanent burial underground. The Commission
planned to award two to three projects as much as 337 million
euros each in the first round before the end of the year.
Britain’s two proposals, Teesside and White Rose, were not
successful in the first phase, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said
Nov. 29.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at
Sbakewell1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
