Corporate responsibility

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A list of frequently asked questions relating to our corporate responsibility.

Frequently asked questions

How does ArcelorMittal work with the communities around your operations?

Our external stakeholder engagement procedure defines how we engage with communities that live close to our operations or are affected by them.

This procedure is mandatory for all our major industrial operations and was revised and relaunched in January 2012. It requires our units to identify its stakeholders, key issues of concern and opportunities to improve local development. Most of our units also have grievance mechanisms which allow stakeholders to communicate any concerns they may have.

We aim to develop constructive relationships with local residents wherever we work as we believe that such relationships will support sustainable economic development in the long-term. The ArcelorMittal Foundation was set up in 2007 to coordinate the company’s community investment activities.

How do you monitor your relationships with local communities?

We strive to engage in a meaningful way with groups that are either dependent on our business or can directly affect our operations. Stakeholders include our employees, suppliers, business partners and the people who live close to our sites. Groups that can directly affect our operations, assets or reputation include, among others, governments, the media and certain community or non-governmental groups. All our major business units are expected to engage proactively with local communities and to follow the external stakeholder engagement procedure.

Each of our major industrial units develops up an annual external stakeholder engagement plan, and is required to monitor and report its performance.

What is ArcelorMittal doing to manage its environmental impact?

Steelmaking has an environmental impact which we work hard to mitigate through our environmental strategy.

Our investment in research and development allows us to develop cleaner products and processes which have a smaller environmental impact throughout their lifespan. In addition to this in 2012 we focused $321 million in capital expenditure to reduce energy consumption and improve the efficiency of our operations.

By the end of 2012, 98% of our steel production and finishing facilities are certified to the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard.

For more information please read the environment section within the corporate responsibility report.

What are you doing to reduce your carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions?

Our target is to reduce our CO2 emissions by 170kg per tonne of steel by 2020, equivalent to an 8% reduction in normalised emissions from the 2007 baseline.
Improved energy efficiency will be central in achieving our 2020 carbon reduction target. We aim to do this by benchmarking our performance against best practice, sharing solutions across our industrial units, and making investments in energy-efficient technologies with the support of our research and development (R&D) teams.

During 2012 our energy efficiency projects included two new investments in Poland, worth $43 million; a $63m energy recovery and reuse project at Indiana Harbor, in Indiana, USA reducing CO2 emissions by 211,000 tonnes a year; several new projects at ArcelorMittal Hamburg, and a methane capture project at our Lenina mine in Kazakhstan. The gas is captured and re-used as feedstock to generate 1.4MW of electricity which is around 20% of the mine’s total power needs, saving energy costs. In addition the project removes potentially dangerous methane from the coal mine. The coal department in Kazakhstan plans to expand the programme in 2013 into other mines in the country. For more information on these please see the related links.

For more information see

What role are you playing in the industry-wide response to climate change?

We are committed to the development of new production technologies that are more energy efficient and emit fewer greenhouse gases. Since 2004, we have led the ULCOS project, which is a research and development initiative involving companies and organisations from 15 European countries working together to develop new ways of making steel that could cut CO2 emissions by up to 50% by 2050. At present, due to technical challenges, it is not possible to start up the ULCOS blast furnace project to demonstrate top gas recycling blast furnace with CO2 transport and storage on an industrial scale at Florange. ArcelorMittal remains firmly committed to working on long term research and development projects in this area and will report on progress in future reports.

How do you manage your use of resources?

Reducing our energy use is an important driver for our competitiveness, and improved energy efficiency will be central in achieving our 2020 carbon reduction target.

Steelmaking requires water mainly for cooling and processing purposes, which is why many of our operations are situated by the coast or close to major lakes and rivers. We measure inlet water use to our facilities and are measuring inlet water use per process to identify further opportunities to recycle and re-use this water.

In 2012 over 88% of our total waste, or more accurately, residue, was re-used or recycled, either inside or outside the business, and less than 6% of residue was sent to landfill.

How do you protect biodiversity in the areas where you work?

Across the world we own land around our sites – principally around our steel plants and our mines. We recognise that we have a responsibility to use this land sensitively, and to reduce our impact on the local environment where possible. To this end, we regularly work alongside local conservation organisations to gain a better understanding of the ecosystems present on our land. We have a number of reforestation projects running alongside our operations in countries including Romania, Spain, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. See the Liberia case study.

For more information see here

How do you ensure your business practices are ethical?

We are committed to maintaining high standards of ethical, environmental and social performance through the responsible and sustainable conduct of our business. Good business practices ensure long-term business success. We want to sustain a reputation for the highest possible standards of ethics, accountability and transparency. We also have strict policies and training programmes on issues such as anti-trust, anti-corruption, insider dealing, non-discrimination and conflicts of interest.

For more information see here

How do you define good governance at ArcelorMittal?

Good governance goes beyond the regulatory requirements, and extends to the commitment of individual employees to be good corporate citizens. Integrity and reputation are key assets that we must preserve at all times. We follow a code of business conduct adopted at the highest level of our company, which is designed to help all employees understand our ethical and legal obligations in handling the company’s business. We are also committed to high standards and best practices in corporate governance in terms of quality and transparency of reporting.

How do you operate in countries where corruption is endemic?

Our anti-corruption guidelines aim to ensure that all our employees and anyone acting on our behalf observe the highest levels of integrity. The guidelines state that both the company and individual employees are legally responsible for bribes and other corrupt practices, even if bribes are paid indirectly through business partners (consultants, agents, distributors). The guidelines reflect our commitment to zero tolerance towards corruption and comply with all applicable anti-corruption laws. All employees are also bound by our code of business conduct.

What is ArcelorMittal’s workplace culture?

We proud of our truly global and diverse workforce. We believe in equal opportunities for individuals, irrespective of their social and economic circumstances, and we are guided by our group diversity and inclusion policy. We aim to create a work environment that values our employees’ quality of life, that offers the chance to all employees to achieve their full potential, and that respects the individual.

How do you ensure the safety of your employees?

Health and safety is our number one priority across all our sites, countries and levels of the company. Journey to Zero, our company-wide health and safety programme to reduce workplace accidents and occupational diseases, embodies our health and safety goals: to become the safest steel and mining company in the world. In 2012, our lost time injury frequency (LTIF) rate for employees and contractors combined was 1.0 per million hours worked, reduced from 1.4 in 2011, 1.8 in 2010, 1.9 in 2009 and 2.5 in 2008.

For more information read our health and safety policy.

For more information see here

What opportunities do your employees have for career development?

Our business success is only possible thanks to the efforts of a passionate and talented workforce. To help them achieve their career goals and build the right skills, we offer structured training and encourage our employees to take up new job opportunities within the company. The company has a talent management programme that provides the right people, at the right time, for the right position while we also offer ongoing support in building skills and capabilities. ArcelorMittal University offers a wide range of training programmes that are closely tied to our business needs and supports the building of the ArcelorMittal culture and the career development of our employees.

What is your approach to employee relations?

We believe in open and continuous dialogue with our employees, both informally and through trade unions, and we cultivate partnerships based on trust and mutual respect. We have set up company-wide processes to regularly gauge employee opinion. Through our climate survey, employees are encouraged to give feedback. We have also established Employee Relations Diagnostics at key ArcelorMittal sites – these are groups of management and employee representatives that monitor the implementation of relevant policies. We recognise the right to collective bargaining and approximately 85% of our employees are covered by collective bargaining arrangements. Through continuous engagement, we aim to build productive partnerships with employee representatives, for example through the ArcelorMittal European Works Council.

Where can I find further information on your corporate responsibility objectives and achievements?

We produce a number of major reports each year, including our annual group-wide corporate responsibility report and country-specific corporate responsibility reports.

Our corporate website is updated regularly for news and initiatives launched by our business.

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