Court confirms SSAB’s permit to build and operate a plant in Luleå

The preliminary decision was challenged by environmental organizations

Swedish steel company SSAB has been given the green light to build and operate a new steel mill in Luleå. This was confirmed in a ruling by the Court of Appeal for Land and Environment, according to SVT.

The company received permission from the Land and Environment Court in December 2024, but it was appealed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and two other organizations.

In particular, the Luleå Nature Conservation Society expressed concern that SSAB has a temporary permit to operate the old plant. This could mean that the former will not be closed, but instead the two facilities will continue to operate simultaneously. The appeal court’s decision states that the old environmental permit will expire when SSAB starts using the new one.

According to SSAB, the appeal court has now confirmed that the location of the production facilities will be implemented properly and that the electric arc furnaces meet the requirements of the best available technology.

SSAB’s plan is for the new steel mill to replace the current blast furnace-based production. The old and new facilities are expected to operate in parallel for a year.

In October this year, SSAB received SEK 314 million (€28.8 million) in funding from the Swedish Energy Agency under the Industriklivet program to convert its Luleå plant. The company is investing €4.5 billion in a new electrified and integrated facility with a capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. It will have two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, an integrated hot rolling mill, and a cold rolling mill with galvanizing and annealing.