SSAB is teaming up with Faurecia to jointly explore the development of fossil-free advanced high-strength steel for use in the automotive seating business. This partnership makes Faurecia, one of the world's leading automotive technology companies, the first supplier to the automotive industry to explore fossil-free steel with SSAB. As part of the collaboration, Faurecia secured SSAB fossil-free steel to start equipping its seating structures from 2026 and onwards.

SSAB will provide Faurecia with the industry's most ambitious and advanced fossil-free steel, using hydrogen and fossil-free electricity instead of coking coal and other fossil fuels traditionally used to make steel. SSAB aims to deliver fossil-free steel to the market at a commercial scale in 2026 and then gradually convert all its operations and become a fossil-free company latest in 2045. SSAB fossil-free steel is made from iron produced using HYBRIT technology.

HYBRIT was created by SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall in 2016, with the aim to develop a technology using hydrogen and fossil-free electricity instead of coking coal in iron- and steelmaking. In August 2021, SSAB was able to show the world's first fossil-free steel based on hydrogen-reduced iron produced at HYBRIT's pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden, an essential step toward a complete fossil-free value chain for steel-making.