Automotive shift to EVs draws scrutiny on steel supplier sustainability, says Arcelormittal: Exclusive

The automotive industry's shift to electric vehicles (EVs) has put the sustainability efforts of its suppliers under scrutiny, Jean-Martin Van der Hoeven, chief marketing officer of ArcelorMittal's global automotive division, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview.

One outcome of the so-called Dieselgate scandal - in which German automaker Volkswagen, among others, admitted to manipulating the results of US diesel emissions tests, resulting in $4.3 billion in fines and prison sentences for some former executives - was a concerted shift by VW to battery-powered mobility.
"It has triggered all over the automotive industry a real push towards electric vehicles," Van der Hoeven said, adding that it had resulted in an acceleration of the transition.
Carmakers suffered a loss of credibility with customers, shareholders and authorities, forcing them to reinvent themselves, he added.
"With the focus on climate change, [VW] took the radical decision to become a brand of electrical vehicles - a very drastic decision [that] in the end was followed by the whole industry," he also said.

"As the automotive industry is showing that in the end the CO2 emissions of their cars will disappear when they go...

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