• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Irina Gorbounova

ArcelorMittal

Vice President M&A and Head of XCarb Innovation Fund

Irina is a senior global leader focused on sustainability, impact investments, and decarbonisation. At ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, she is responsible for executing strategic M&A deals and sustainable ventures in steel and mining. She also leads the investments of XCarb™, an innovation fund focused on companies developing breakthrough technologies to accelerate the steel industry’s transition to carbon neutral steelmaking.

Irina has about two decades of experience in breakthrough technology investments and impact investing and an expertise in mergers and acquisitions. She is on the board of numerous high-impact growing companies. She is a member of the Leadership council of the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, member of GCV Global Industry Sustainability Council and Board member & ESG Chair of Women in Renewable Energy Alliance.

Irina is passionate about a zero-carbon future and brings a forward-thinking perspective on how to achieve net zero goals.

Sessions With Irina Gorbounova

Tuesday, 19 March

Thursday, 21 March

  • 11:30am - 12:00pm (CST) / 21/mar/2024 04:30 pm - 21/mar/2024 05:00 pm

    Leadership and Mindset for Low-carbon Transformation

    Carbon Management/Decarbonization

    Getting to net zero will require unprecedented and rapid transformation of the energy sector. How would businesses respond in a world where “next-zero” goals become license to operate similar to safety culture becoming the norm in the oil and gas sector? What steps must industry leaders take to create this new culture and mindset? How are the rapid technological advancements influencing strategic thinking? And how are the next generation of leaders responding? 

  • 01:30pm - 02:00pm (CST) / 21/mar/2024 06:30 pm - 21/mar/2024 07:00 pm

    Innovations in Sustainable Steel
    Digitalization/AI/Machine Learning/Robotics/Cybersecurity

    Steel is often perceived as among the most difficult of the so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors. And yet, steel plants can greatly improve their carbon footprints by using techniques that include digitalization; hydrogen- and direct-reduced iron processes to eliminate the use of coal, reduction of heat loss in the casting and rolling process or recycled waste gases and heat. What sustainability philosophies and techniques are gaining the most traction in this industry? How are innovators driving the necessary changes? What is the outlook for widespread adoption of these new techniques?