Beltrame Group: Chalibria is born, the “carbon neutral” certified steel

Beltrame Group: Chalibria is born, the "carbon neutral" certified steel

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Chalibria is born, the carbon neutral certified steel of AFV Beltrame Group, a steel group with a turnover of 1.7 billion euros (2021 financial statements), 7 plants in Italy, France, Switzerland and Romania, 2,500 employees and a commercial presence in 40 countries , for 2.3 million tons of steel annually. «We are the first European manufacturer of long steel for construction to offer this type of solution», says Raffaele Ruella, chief financial officer and managing director of the group: «We are able to sell the entire range of products like Chalibria. If the customer wants it». With a price proportional to the value.

How CO2 is compensated

Chalibria has a carbon neutrality obtained by offsetting the CO2 emissions generated by the value chain through the purchase of carbon credits on a voluntary basis, in line with the PAS2060 standard and the ISO14064-1 certification attested by Rina. A process that was born, for the company, in 2015, and begins with the measurement of total emissions. «Those generated during the group’s activities are below the international and European industry averages: 570 kg of CO2 per ton of rolled steel (Scope 1,2 and 3 upstream), about 75% less than the emissions of the steel industry and 15% less than the European average of electric furnace steel emissions. But the company intends to improve even further and has set itself the goal of reducing its emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2015», explains Ruella.

Integrated strategy

Chalibria, from the Latin “chalybs” (steel) and “libra” (scale), is part of a broader decarbonization strategy, based on pillars coinciding with the DNA of Beltrame – which produces steel by melting scrap in electric furnaces – and integrated in the company’s business: «We have approved a 500 million euro plan, from 2022 to 2025, which includes investments linked to decarbonisation», explains Ruella.

Efficiency, with the reduction of production costs, is pursued through the modernization of the furnaces, the creation of heat recovery systems and new digital control systems. The circular economy is implemented with the readmission of waste into the production process, so that today 90% is recovered. For the use of clean energy, the group is developing plants through PPAs, as in the Renewability consortium launched this year in Italy with an investment shared with other companies of 30 million euros: “We are also evaluating other initiatives”, adds Ruella, which specifies: «By 2030 for our factories in Italy and Romania 40% of the energy will be from renewable sources». And the construction of a photovoltaic park near the Târgoviște plant in Romania is already on the launch pad. Finally, hydrogen: the group’s ovens are already set up to use it as a fuel mixed with natural gas.

More and more investments in decarbonisation

«Chalibria is the way to transparently show the progress we intend to implement on a daily basis, a commitment that we make in front of all our stakeholders, the result of two years of work that has seen us collaborate with various companies and consultants, among the main ones, the strategic partners Roland Berger and Alperia. Steel is a special material, infinitely recyclable and therefore intrinsically sustainable, but in producing it emissions are generated and a high energy expenditure is required. The group intends to invest more and more to minimize emissions», comments Carlo Beltrame, head of group business development of Beltrame and CEO of France and Romania.

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