For more than a decade, the steel mill in Riesa has been an active member of the Umwelt- and Klimaallianz Sachsen, the Saxon alliance for the environment and climate. The renewal of its membership for another three years and the ceremonial award of the certificate to Feralpi Stahl took place only recently. Dr. Sebastian Gräfe, head of the office of Umwelt- und Klimaallianz Sachsen, and Heike Hofmann, head of the Riesa branch office of the chamber of commerce and industry in Dresden, were invited to Riesa for the event.
Talks with Uwe Reinecke, the director of Feralpi Stahl, and Dr. Mathias Schreiber, the director for integrated management systems, discussed the current challenges of the steel industry.
Uwe Reinecke says:
“We are on our way towards green steel. There is no doubt that this is our long-term goal – 220 million Euro in investments done by the Italian Feralpi group are proof of this. But right now the steel industry, and therefore we, as an electric steel mill, are facing huge challenges. The high costs of energy and the economic slump in construction are problematic for us.
But, we remain optimistic and are implementing our investment projects in Riesa – above all, a second, emission-free hot rolling mill with which we will want to increase our production capacities to 1.3 million tonnes of construction steel every year, while further reducing our carbon emissions to a lasting effect.”
The maxim of the Feralpi Group, environmentally friendly production that puts humans first, is visible in their entire work and harks back to their founder, Carlo N. Pasini. One impressive proof of this commitment to protecting the environment is the EMAS ecolabel, which Feralpi Stahl has continually been able to hold since 2012.
The requirements for holding this ecolabel are tough and go beyond what is legally required. Therefore it is all the more pleasing that Umwelt- und Klimaallianz Sachsen has recognised the on-going endeavour of Feralpi and has green-lighted their continued membership in the alliance.
Dr. Mathias Schreiber says:
“This is an award that gives us lasting support for what we do. We want to actively prove how much effort we invest into decarbonisation and the energy transformation, and that we believe in the German site with currently more than 800 industrial jobs.”
