Branko Zečević, President of the Metalfer Group - Green steel and circular economy as key to sustainability in metal industry

- Our team at Metalfer recognized the coming changes very early on and we were one of the first companies which have started planning a strategic transition to sustainable steel production. In the past 5-6 years, we have invested significant funds in new technologies and we have reached a level of modernization that many global companies would envy. The carbon footprint that is created in the process of producing our steel is among the lowest in Europe and beyond. We prove it with an international certificate issued by the renowned European agency TUV.

- As i said, technological process and modern equipment we use have allowed us to get an extremely low carbon footprint per ton of steel produced so our steel can be considered green steel. At this moment there is no better technology that we could apply in our production. We certainly keep a watchful eye on all innovations emerging in the steel industry and we want to be among the first companies which will apply future new technologies in practice.

- Metalfer is an excellent example of circular economy. Our basic raw material is scrap steel which has the rare property of being able to be used in an unlimited number of recycling processes, which is not the case with many other waste types. Apart from steel scrap, we try to use as many raw materials as possible which have been obtained from recycling processes as well as to reduce the amount of waste left at the end of our production process. We are additionally investing in processes which will fully utilize even that little waste which arises in our production and receive products from it which can be used in other industries. In general, we strive for zero waste from our production, ie. "zero waste production".

- Last year, we put a 3 MW solar power plant into operation which we installed on the roof of our rolling mill hall. The electricity produced is used for our own purposes without transmission through the public network. Also for all electricity that we buy from EPS we get a guarantee that it is produced from renewable sources.

We are planning to build a 35-40 MW solar power plant in the immediate vicinity of our steel plant which will operate according to a similar principle as the existing rooftop power plant. Apart from that, we are constantly studying many other projects because our need for electricity is extremely high.

- The challenges are mostly of an administrative nature because legislation and accompanying bylaws

often lag behind changes in the real world. It happens to us that due to a lack of understanding or practices by competent authorities we are experiencing delays in our projects.

- The metal industry has good potential but faces increasing regulatory hurdles. Those companies that adjust in time will have their place in the future market division but those who don`t will disappear. This is a difficult time for latecomers or those unable to adapt, some due to existing technology, some due to lack of capital. Serbia, as well as the other countries in the region, must adapt its laws to the new situation and help his industry. In contrast, the metal industry is threatened with extinction.

- We expected the effect to be faster and clearer. Unfortunately, the majority of buyers still look first at the price of the product, rather than the quality or sustainability of the production process. That`s how we meet the competition of manufacturers who do not care about decarbonization at all or production sustainability, and they are practically dumping their products on our market which is one of the world`s most open. Unlike them, we have invested tens of millions of euros in decarbonization

and the modernization of production processes and it is certainly not fair to allow them to sell their "dirty" products on the same terms as we do our "green steel".

Only a small number of financial institutions have started to take into account what kind of materials are used in the projects they finance. We hope this trend will become dominant on our market.

- Apart from investments in renewable energy sources we are planning several projects who deal with waste processing which arises in the production process in order to achieve "zero waste production".