How ArcelorMittal Polluted Kazakhstan

The non-profit research organization CREA (Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air) presented a report on the environmental consequences brought about by ArcelorMittal's operations in Kazakhstan, Orda.kz reports.

CREA investigated how the ArcelorMittal Temirtau metallurgical plant impacted the environment from 1996 to 2023. CREA experts state that the company caused severe damage during its operations in Kazakhstan.

Decades of accidents and deaths led the government to show ArcelorMittal the door yet the legacy of harm to the local population continues and the latest health impact assessment (HIA) from CREA finds that the Temirtau steel plant caused air pollution that contributed to thousands of deaths in the vicinity of Temirtau and led to billions of dollars in health damages,the CREA report states.

While ArcelorMittal operated the plant, the surrounding area was constantly subject to hazardous airborne substances, including suspended solids, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides. Environmentalists estimate that this pollution could have caused up to 3,000 premature deaths.

According to CREA's findings, ArcelorMittal has caused 190 cases of premature births and 2.6 thousand cases of asthma in children. Diseases caused by air pollution near the plant have led to economic losses of 4.2 billion dollars over 27 years.

We estimate that exposure to PM2.5 from the Temirtau steel plant has led to deaths among the local adult population due to ischaemic heart disease (410), stroke (170), lower respiratory infections (83), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (70), lung cancer (42), and diabetes (25), as well as 9 children under the age of 5, due to lower respiratory infections, the report says.

According to the report's estimates, during ArcelorMittal's operations in Kazakhstan, local residents have called ambulances about 250 times due to asthma, 700 cases of asthma among children were identified, and about 130 babies were born underweight. According to the researchers, this is a consequence of the increased environmental pollution.

Due to coal burning, an increased amount of ash was also emitted into the atmosphere (an average of 0.06 kg per hectare per year), which subsequently settled on the ground, causing black snow to fall in Temirtau several times.

The estimates provided are based on data obtained from a thorough analysis of the air in the vicinity of Temirtau in 2022. These figures were then extrapolated to the entire period from 1996 to 2023 and included scale changes in steel production. The sources of information were both official ArcelorMittal reports and meteorological observations.

Full report in English.

The authors did not analyze the steel plant's environmental impact after it was transferred to investor Andrey Lavrentyev in 2023.