Italy: EIB provides €100 million for Marcegaglia’s decarbonisation and innovation strategy

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB financing aims to boost Marcegaglia’s energy efficiency and support efforts to decarbonise and automate processes.
• The investments to be made by 2028 will impact the main plants in Ravenna, Gazoldo degli Ippoliti (Mantua) and San Giorgio di Nogaro (Udine).

Today the European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced €100 million in financing for Marcegaglia, the Mantua-based steel group. This operation will support the group’s €170 million investment plan. The operation was finalised this morning at the group’s historic headquarters in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, as the loan was signed by heads of the family business Antonio Marcegaglia and Emma Marcegaglia and EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti.

The operation is to be completed by 2028 and will help to further digitalise and automate logistics at the plants in Ravenna and Gazoldo degli Ippoliti. The aim is to further decarbonise one of the galvanising lines in Ravenna, and to develop innovative, low-carbon and highly energy-efficient technology for electrical steels. In addition, finance will be provided for research, development and innovation projects, particularly those involving production processes at the Ravenna, Gazoldo degli Ippoliti and San Giorgio di Nogaro plants.

By providing this finance, the EIB is highlighting its commitment to supporting projects that promote innovation, sustainability and economic growth in Europe. Working with Marcegaglia is an important step towards a more sustainable and competitive future for the European steel industry as a whole.

“The steel industry is crucial for the economy and the competitiveness of the European Union, but as we know, producing steel requires a large amount of energy and has a significant environmental impact. The financing announced today will help Marcegaglia embark on a transformational journey, enabling the group to adopt more sustainable industrial processes and cutting-edge technologies to improve its environmental footprint, increase safety at work and reduce costs. The transition towards innovative and sustainable production processes and clean technologies is essential to further Europe’s competitiveness and its leading role in new technologies, as well as to achieve EU climate neutrality objectives by 2050,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti.

“The loan we signed today is another example of the positive working relationship that we have enjoyed with the EIB since 2019, and also demonstrates our unwavering and firm commitment to keeping our plants up to date with state-of-the-art technology. The aim of our important investment plan – that will take us to 2028 and receive EIB support – is not only to make our plants more innovative, but also to decarbonise them and improve energy efficiency, always with greater financial and environmental sustainability in mind. These projects will help to further reduce our environmental impact and improve the technology we use. This will hopefully place us among the very best in the European steel industry,” said Antonio and Emma Marcegaglia.

This EIB financing will cover more than the usual 50% of the total project cost, given it is supporting the REPowerEU objectives. For projects such as these, the EIB can offer higher initial disbursements and longer maturities to make loans even more attractive to the energy sector, and also increase the co-financing ceiling to 75%. The EIB is committed to supporting REPowerEU, making €45 billion in additional financing available by 2027.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It finances investments that contribute to EU policy objectives. EIB projects bolster competitiveness, drive innovation, promote sustainable development, enhance social and territorial cohesion, and support a just and swift transition to climate neutrality.  The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed a total of €88 billion in new financing for over 900 projects in 2023. These commitments are expected to mobilise around €320 billion in investment, supporting 400 000 companies and 5.4 million jobs. In the last five years, the EIB Group has provided more than €58 billion in financing for projects in Italy.

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Accord. The EIB Group does not fund investments in fossil fuels. We are on track to deliver on our commitment to support  €1 trillion in climate and environmental sustainability investment in the decade to 2030 as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Over half of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.  Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower. This underscores the Bank’s commitment to fostering inclusive growth and the convergence of living standards. 

Marcegaglia is an Italian industrial group that has been operating in the steel processing industry for over 60 years. The group was founded by Steno Marcegaglia in 1959 and is now fully controlled by his children, Antonio and Emma, and is present in the entire value chain. The group acquired an electric furnace steelworks for special steels in Sheffield, UK in 2023 and a site in Fos-sur-Mer, France in 2024. This meant that the company also started operating in primary production. This was done in order to shorten and stabilise supply chains – making processes smoother and more interconnected – to continue developing increasingly sustainable and competitive products. The group has a turnover of nearly €8 billion, 7 800 employees, 37 plants in four continents and produces a total of 6.5 million tonnes of processed steel every year for over 15 000 customers in Europe and around the world. As a result, the group is recognised as a national and global leader in the steel processing industry.