We’re shaping a more ResponsibleSteel industry.

The December edition of the ResponsibleSteel Newsletter is out!

As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of both challenge and progress for the global steel sector. Amid a rapidly evolving policy and market landscape, ResponsibleSteel has continued to work alongside its members and partners to advance credible, internationally aligned pathways for responsible and low-emission steel. We would like to thank our members, stakeholders, and supporters for their continued commitment and engagement throughout the year.

To mark the end of the year, our CEO Annie Heaton has shared a reflection on ResponsibleSteel’s progress in 2025 and the momentum building across interoperability, standards, policy, collaboration and more. You can read Annie’s end-of-year letter here.

In this month’s newsletter, you’ll also find:

- An introduction to our new Business Board Director

- Updates on recent and upcoming audits, alongside new training opportunities

- A round-up of policy convenings in Europe and India, with insights feeding into our forthcoming policy paper

- A welcome to our newest ResponsibleSteel member

- Key developments from the ResponsibleSteel Standard Revision process

Read the full December update here.

Dear Members, Partners and Friends,

Just under a decade ago, ResponsibleSteel began with a bold vision: to unite the steel industry around a shared commitment to sustainability. As we stand on the threshold of our tenth year, that vision matters more than ever.

You, our members, have championed ResponsibleSteel and its evolution over the years, and driven real progress across the steel industry. I thank you for your continued commitment, even amid complex global challenges.

Mounting pressure to stay competitive while delivering on climate commitments underscores why credible, coherent standards and collaboration across the steel value chain must remain a priority. They are essential to ensure that policy, finance and demand side dynamics shape the future of the industry in a fair and effective way.

Leading the way: Thought leadership and interoperability

This year, ResponsibleSteel took a decisive step forward in shaping the future of low-emission steel. Our leading work on interoperability moved from concept to reality, sending powerful signals to governments, markets, civil society, and investors that global alignment on steel decarbonisation is not only possible, but already underway.

At COP30, we announced landmark agreements with the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS), to develop conversion tools for stakeholders to claim equivalency of their decarbonisation progress under the different schemes. Together, membership of the three organisations represents around 60% of the world’s steel production.

These agreements show that pragmatic, plurilateral solutions can deliver real progress, even when global consensus is challenging.  By enabling comparability across standards, these agreements provide a foundation for trade, procurement and investment in cleaner steel. It has clearly bolstered stakeholders’ resolve to build further solutions for the transition to low-emission steel.

In a further significant announcement in December, ResponsibleSteel worked with CARES, CISA, GSCC, LESS, RMI and Worldsteel to jointly commit to the Steel Standards Principles (SSPs) Transparency Criteria for GHG reporting. These criteria outline the key measurement rules behind any carbon intensity disclosure, and their disclosure will enable stakeholders to understand the data they are given and drive standards initiatives closer to achieving clarity, transparency and interoperability. These milestones towards comparable, transparent emissions reporting build on the technical groundwork we have laid, including the publication of our Fundamentals for GHG Emissions Accounting and Classification and verified greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from ResponsibleSteel Certified Sites.

They represent important steps towards transparent and consistent emissions accounting and data disclosure across the steel industry and mark a real turning point in how standards can support action at scale.

Policy: Engaging government and policymakers to support the transition

Policy is undeniably one of the most powerful levers for driving sustainability, which is why policy engagement has been another cornerstone of our work in 2025.

We began by publishing The Steel Decarbonisation Scale, a joint policy briefing with LESS, urging European policymakers to adopt a realistic approach to steel decarbonisation - recognising scrap supply limits and incentivising genuine emissions reductions across all production routes.

We convened stakeholders in Brussels and Delhi to explore how standards can inform policy mechanisms such as lead market labels, carbon pricing schemes, including cross-border mechanisms, green procurement frameworks and national decarbonisation pathways. I want to thank all our contributors; your insights will shape our global policy paper, which will be published in early 2026.  

Progress on our programmes: Standards, certification and member impact

Despite setbacks to wider industry progress, ResponsibleSteel has strengthened its role as the leading global standard for responsible steelmaking. Our Standard Revision process is well underway, ensuring the ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard remains effective, relevant and fit for purpose. Alongside this, our Just Transition project continues to explore how standards can support a fair and inclusive shift to low-emission practices across steel and mining.

Certification remains at the heart of our mission, allowing steelmakers to demonstrate measurable progress across key social and environmental issues. In 2025, major certification milestones included thyssenkrupp Steel’s Duisburg site, the largest in Europe, and EMSTEEL, the first site in the MENA region, bringing the total to 90 Core Site Certifications covering 142.436 Mtpa capacity.

Certifications and recertifications this year spanned eight countries and five regions: Europe, South America, Oceania, Asia and the Middle East.  Over 80% of sites due for renewal chose to recertify, with additional recertifications already underway for next year. These certifications prove that, even in a complex global environment, organisations continue to step up in order to build a more responsible steel value chain.

Another compelling example of the practical progress certified steelmakers are making is our case study with SIJ Group, whose SIJ Acroni and SIJ Metal Ravne sites achieved ResponsibleSteel Core Site Certification in 2024. SIJ outlines why they undertook certification and how it has enhanced their credibility within the market and laid the foundation for continuous improvement across their operations.

Finance and demand: Driving investment and the right market signals

The key to the success of any certification scheme is the value it delivers to the certificate holder. Our Certified Steel Campaign helped demonstrate the credibility of ResponsibleSteel certification to investors and customer networks, showing how it can support procurement and investment decisions, mitigate supply chain risk, and strengthen their market position. By engaging finance, automotive, construction, infrastructure, and beyond, we worked to drive stronger market signals for Certified Steel and showcase the progress certified steelmakers are making towards responsible, near-zero steel.

We have convened lenders and investors both in New York in May and via our online Finance Working Group, bringing together finance sector representatives with steelmakers and civil society to explore how certification can inform investment decisions and be seen as an indicator of risk readiness.

With steel company testimonies, these sessions highlighted the benefits of ResponsibleSteel certification and prompted discussion of how credible standards can mobilise capital toward low-emission steel.

Moving forward: Accelerating the responsible steel transition

The urgency of our mission cannot be overstated. Scientists now expect the world to reach 1.5°C warming by 2030, not 2050. There is growing recognition that credible, transparent, comparable standards must sit at the heart of policy, finance and demand mechanisms if we are to deliver real progress on climate and social issues affecting workers and their communities.

ResponsibleSteel will continue to lead this work, but success depends on all of you, steelmakers, buyers, material suppliers, civil society, investors, and policymakers, working together to urge and support steelmakers to use the ResponsibleSteel system as their reference.

In the upcoming year, we will revise our strategy and focus on our Value Activation Plan, including revisions to our Claims guidance to enable greater market access for those actively driving responsible, low-emission practices. Our goal is to ensure that you, our members and supporters, clearly see the value of your continued commitment to ResponsibleSteel and the tangible impacts we are having across the sector.  

Thank you once again for your contribution and dedication throughout this year.

With best wishes for the year ahead,

Annie Heaton

CEO, ResponsibleSteel

The ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard sets the benchmark for steel sustainability, supporting our mission to be a driving force in the production of responsibly produced steel. At least every five years, ResponsibleSteel reviews the Production Standard to determine whether revision is needed, ensuring it remains relevant and fit for purpose in a changing industry.

We kicked off the review process in October 2024 with a public consultation calling for feedback on the ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard V2.1.1, and, following approval from the ResponsibleSteel Board of Directors, the Secretariat commenced the revision process earlier this year.

Over the course of 2025, the Secretariat conducted topical research and collected background data and information to inform the revision. Through reference group calls, one-on-one meetings, and various other platforms, we engaged with different stakeholder groups to prioritise the topics for revision. This formed the basis for the development of terms of reference for the inclusion of topics in the scope of the standard revision across 2025 and 2026.

Since September, the working groups (WG) and technical advisory groups (TAG) have been continuously meeting to discuss the various topics for revision.

Update on revisions to Principle 10: Climate Change and GHG emissions

One of the topics in Principle 10 (P10) is related to climate transition plans on a corporate and site-level, inclusive of the emission reduction targets, decarbonisation strategy, risk & opportunities assessment, and GHG data for disclosure. 15 members were active in the WG with an almost equal distribution of business and civil society members. As stakeholder engagement continues to finalise the proposal, some of the outcomes with support so far include removing temperature alignment and instead focusing on net zero by 2050 as the long-term corporate-level ambition; adding/modifying definitions of key terminology such as near-term, long-term and portfolio of sites to the glossary and guidance material; and revising the structure of P10 to clarify the requirements.

An upcoming priority revision topic in P10 will be regarding the harmonisation of criteria 10.3 and 10.4 for the measurement of GHG emissions at the site. The intention is to increase the utilisation of ResponsibleSteel’s comprehensive crude steel emissions accounting methodology, thereby driving more transparent and comparable GHG data disclosure across Core Site Certification. In addition to reviewing the harmonisation criteria for steelmakers, the scope of review will especially include considerations for value chain members operating upstream or downstream of the steelmaking site, as well as the review of Annex 5’s default embodied GHG values for imported materials and fuels.

The last P10-related topic is related to high-alloy and stainless steels. Currently, the ResponsibleSteel Decarbonisation Progress Levels (DPLs) account for carbon steels (with <8% alloy inputs). To enable Steel Certification for high alloy and stainless steels, we are in the process of developing specific DPLs for this sub-sector of the steel industry. ResponsibleSteel and SMR Group (Steel & Metals Market Research) have partnered on the development of a stainless steel GHG emissions model at mill level. Recently, the stainless steel emissions model architecture was presented by SMR to the WG for their feedback.

Now, with further robust data and assumptions underpinning the model, it will cover over 80% of global stainless steel production. Subject to funding, next steps include a dynamic material flow analysis assessment and mapping of near-zero stainless steel emissions potential, which will feed into the development of the emissions thresholds.

Update on revisions to social topics: Labour rights and Just Transition

The key areas of focus for Principle 6: Labour Rights relate to the annual leave requirement and policy requirements. The revision was triggered by a stakeholder request to change the Production Standard, followed by further discussion as part of a working group in 2024. Currently, the TAG is discussing the working group’s previous recommendation, evaluating a proposed approach and next steps.

On Just Transition, the working group has been discussing and sharing views on how the concepts should be incorporated into the revision of the Production Standard. These discussions will continue into 2026. The Secretariat is in the process of planning additional meetings in 2026 and is seeking additional members to join the WG to ensure broad perspectives and improved representation.

Get involved

If you are interested in adding your voice to the standard revision in relation to any of the aforementioned topics, or beyond, please get in touch with us here.

Visit our new webpage to find out more about the revision process

We’re also pleased to launch our new webpage for the revision of the Production Standard, where you can now find all information relating to the revision timeline, working groups, topics under revision, and how to get involved.

Visit the Standard Revision webpage here.