“2020 was, by any measure, an extraordinary year. The Covid-19 global pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to societies, businesses and individuals across the globe, forcing us all to re-think the way we live and work. Our clear priority throughout the pandemic was to keep our employees safe and well. We are proud of the care they showed each other and their commitment to keeping the business running.

“Yet for all the challenges of 2020, it was also a year of progress for ArcelorMittal. We achieved our net debt target and improved the quality and earnings capability of our asset portfolio. The upshot is a higher growth portfolio as we are able to focus investment behind higher growth opportunities in markets like Brazil, Mexico, India and Liberia.

“I have therefore stepped into the CEO role at a time when the company is in many ways stronger, allowing me to focus on the four strategic pillars which underpin our vision to remain the world’s leading steel company in the coming decades. The first three – having a strong balance sheet, growth portfolio and competitive cost position – put the Company in a strong position to grow and develop.

“The fourth pillar of our strategy is our ambition to be a sector leader in sustainability. Global concern for sustainability and responsible business continued to grow in 2020, perhaps even accentuated by the challenge of the pandemic. We track performance according to five sustainable development themes but three issues in particular stand out – safety, decarbonisation and diversity. Despite considerable effort, we know our safety performance is not good enough. The Executive Office, the sustainability committee and the full board has discussed this in depth as a result of which changes have been introduced which we hope will support a step change in our safety performance.

“Although the transition to a low carbon society is a significant challenge, it also presents ArcelorMittal with tremendous opportunity. A significant milestone in our decarbonisation ambitions was the launch in March of XCarb™, a brand that brings together all of ArcelorMittal’s reduced, low- and zero-carbon steelmaking activities into a single effort, focused on achieving demonstrable progress towards carbon-neutral steel.

“It is widely recognised that diverse teams bring many benefits to organisations, including an increased wealth of perspectives and the capacity to make better-informed decisions. While our workforce is internationally diverse, our key issue has been gender diversity. We have worked on the plans to address it and are targeting doubling the number of female managers – or higher – by 2030.

“I hope we will be able to report progress on our key metrics in 2021. When it comes to sustainability, steel is an ideal material in the circular economy since it is easily recoverable and infinitely recyclable. I remain very confident in the future of steel, and in the ability of ArcelorMittal to succeed in this environment and continue to invent the smarter steels we need for a better world.”

“Our vision is to remain the world’s leading steel company for many decades to come. We are aware that our ability to do so will be shaped not only by our financial performance but also our social and environmental performance, and particularly our ability to decarbonise. I have seen many fascinating and transformational developments in my decades in business. None, I believe, have quite the same implications as the challenge to decarbonise the global economy.

“It is a mammoth task for everyone and particularly for those of us operating in the so-called ‘hard to abate sectors’ which includes steel. We are acutely aware of the carbon footprint associated with steelmaking. Nevertheless, we remain confident that steel can and will remain the material of choice for building the world’s infrastructure. While we in no way underestimate the challenge of the transition, we are energised by the opportunities it will provide. Much of the infrastructure required for the transition to a low-carbon economy for example, including renewable energy systems and electric vehicles, depend on steel.

“The potential of the opportunity is what keeps us focused and energised. Our teams of engineers are working hard to ensure ArcelorMittal plays a leading role in the decarbonisation of our industry. Our financial strength, our innovative nature and the ingenuity and capability of our people to find solutions to the toughest challenges stands us in good stead to fulfil our purpose of inventing smarter steels for a better world.”