A landmark year for ResponsibleSteel: Reflections from our CEO
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
Shaping India’s steel transition: Reflections from ResponsibleSteel’s Policy Convening in Delhi
As India’s steel industry navigates the twin imperatives of growth and sustainability, ResponsibleSteel hosted a policy convening in Delhi earlier this year to explore pathways for steel decarbonisation in India.
Held under the theme “Decarbonisation of India’s steel sector: Dynamics of the energy transition and the role of standards,” the event brought together leaders from government, industry, and civil society to discuss how credible standards, collaboration, and innovation can accelerate India’s transition to low-emission steel. Participants included Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, the Indian Steel Association, WWF, Climate Group, and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, as well as representatives from the Hydrogen Mission India, the Ministry of Cooperation and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The convening was opened by the Hon’ble Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, whose keynote address framed the energy transition as both an environmental necessity and a moral responsibility. Reaffirming India’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, he described the transition as “a gift we must leave behind—a legacy of ethical industry.”
He encouraged India’s industry to lead through innovation, highlighting green hydrogen as the cornerstone of the transformation and urging investment in carbon capture, smart furnaces, and Direct Reduced Iron (DRI).
Industry perspectives: Progress and challenges
Senior industry leaders shared insights on their progress, highlighting several areas of development:
- Hydrogen-based pilots are underway with positive results, marking a shift in the future of steel production in India.
- There is increasing integration of renewable energy into steel operations, particularly solar and wind, enabling greater energy autonomy.
- A growing focus on circularity and scrap-based production is emerging to reduce lifecycle emissions.
At the same time, industry participants acknowledged significant barriers to the transition, above all, the high cost of green hydrogen, limited access to clean energy, land availability and grid challenges, and gaps in hydrogen infrastructure.
Policy, incentives, and the role of standards
Discussions also touched upon a clear, globally aligned national framework to support policy, finance, and trade. Shivakumar K., ResponsibleSteel’s Director of Development and Innovation, emphasised the role standards can play as strategic tools that build trust, guide policy and investment, and support industry transformation. By adopting, integrating, or aligning with international standards, national policy frameworks can demonstrate leadership and maintain competitiveness in the global market.
Clear priorities emerged in the discussions, including the need to:
- Ensure interoperability between India’s taxonomy and international standards and policy mechanisms to support trade and global compliance.
- Establish robust certification frameworks to build investor confidence.
- Embed standards within policy narratives linking industry decarbonisation with employment, equity, and regional development.
The convening also discussed policy incentives to accelerate the transition, with representatives from MNRE highlighting ongoing initiatives such as the National Green Hydrogen Mission, which plans to allocate ₹19,744 crore (around $2.2 million) to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.
However, participants stressed that more targeted support is needed, such as tax credits to encourage early adoption of low-carbon technologies.
Toward a responsible, low-emission future
The Delhi convening reaffirmed the growing momentum behind India’s steel transition. It also underscored the essential role of international standards in shaping national policy frameworks and unlocking sustainable finance.
ResponsibleSteel’s engagement with industry stakeholders in India will continue to build on the momentum created in Delhi, laying the groundwork for a responsible, near-zero industry, built on cross-border collaboration.
Learn more about the ResponsibleSteel International Production Standard.
Certification as a catalyst: ResponsibleSteel leads EU dialogue on industrial transformation
Earlier this year, ResponsibleSteel brought together senior representatives from European government institutions, industry, standards bodies, civil society, and finance for a high-level policy roundtable in Brussels to discuss certification as a catalyst for industrial decarbonisation.
Europe is entering a decisive phase of industrial and climate policymaking. With the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and a forthcoming low-carbon steel label, the stakes are high.
The challenge is clear: how can independent, voluntary certification accelerate the transformation of Europe’s steel industry? And just as importantly, how do we ensure these standards work seamlessly with government policies and regulations, aligning climate ambition, safeguarding competitiveness, and building trust across the value chain?
Three key takeaways
Three priorities stood out during the Brussels discussions:
1. Achieving coherence and interoperability
Aligning the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and product labels is critical to avoid policy fragmentation. This ensures that climate performance and market access work hand in hand, rather than pulling in different directions.
2. Building trust through robust assurance and traceability
Strong assurance systems are essential to give businesses and consumers confidence in sustainability data. This helps prevent greenwashing and ensures that claims about low-carbon steel are credible and transparent.
3. Embedding integrity beyond carbon
Europe’s industrial transformation must go further than emissions. It should integrate environmental and social responsibility—from labour rights and biodiversity protection to circularity and resource efficiency—creating a truly sustainable steel sector.
A call for coherence and clarity
The outcome of the discussions was clear. As one participant observed, "Europe doesn't need more bureaucracy—it needs coherence, trust, and credible evidence." This means having a trusted data backbone linking policy instruments rather than multiplying accounting systems. Global certification and assurance frameworks like ResponsibleSteel can provide that backbone, reducing complexity and ensuring comparability across borders.
Recent EU policy developments, such as the expected steel trade defence measure, are prime examples of how trade and climate instruments must evolve coherently. Europe’s policy architecture must be designed to reward verified low-emission steel, ensuring that trade and climate policy pull in the same direction. Certification can serve as the "connective tissue" of industrial policy, translating ambition into verifiable data and helping policymakers and businesses meet the integrity test of Europe's Green Deal.
Going beyond carbon
Another key point made was that Europe must progressively move beyond carbon-only metrics towards integrating environmental and social integrity more broadly. Climate metrics alone aren’t enough. ResponsibleSteel remains the only globally recognised standard that integrates emissions, labour, biodiversity, and governance into one assurance model. A holistic approach ensures Europe’s industrial transition is not just green, but fair.
Certification: Turning intent into impact
"Certification is no longer a technical afterthought—it's what turns climate intent into credible, measurable impact," said ResponsibleSteel CEO Annie Heaton. "The roundtable confirmed that credible, interoperable standards are now essential for Europe’s industrial transition. ResponsibleSteel's agreement with the Brussels-based Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS), announced at COP30, was a major milestone on the road to greater alignment.”
With new trade-defence measures on the horizon, ResponsibleSteel will continue working with policymakers, industry, and civil society to make certification a cornerstone of Europe’s climate-industrial architecture.
Because only when integrity and ambition move together—through coherence, credibility, and verified performance—can Europe’s industrial transition truly succeed.
Public Statement: The EU Label for Steel Should Build on the Sliding Scale Approach
As announced in the Clean Industrial Deal, the European Commission is expected to put forward an EU label for steel on 10 December as part of the Industrial Accelerator Act. This label aims to incentivise and reward investments in the decarbonisation of steel production. To succeed, the EU must establish a clear, credible, and uniform framework that incentivises genuine and additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions across all production routes while preserving industrial competitiveness. The concept of the ‘Sliding Scale’, also known as ‘Steel Decarbonisation Scale‘, initially proposed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and adopted by ResponsibleSteel, LESS, and CISA, offers a robust, technology-neutral, and globally inclusive approach which aligns with the WTO TBT Principles. This paper argues for the adoption of the Sliding Scale as the basis for the European Label for Steel, ensuring a fair and effective transition of the steel industry to near-zero emissions steel.
The Sliding Scale: A Fair and Effective Framework for Europe
The Sliding Scale evaluates steel production based on both GHG intensity and the share of scrap used. This dual approach ensures that decarbonisation progress is recognised and rewarded, independently of the production route or scrap input.
By contrast, a purely footprint-based approach fails to guide the industry toward near-zero emissions. Footprint-based specifications are designed to reduce emissions at the product level, but this won’t lead to global GHG reduction if achieved by higher recycled content alone as doing so would simply shift scrap and emissions from one product, project or region to another (see report “The role of scrap in steel decarbonisation” by the Institution of Structural Engineers and the ”Civil Society Response to GSCC Steel Standard” signed by 12 NGOs which outline this in a compelling way). In other words, a footprint-based approach would merely outsource the decarbonisation of primary production to third countries and make the EU steel industry more vulnerable and less resilient.
Why the Sliding Scale Works
The Sliding Scale encourages all producers, primary (ore-based) and secondary (scrap-based), to decarbonise. For secondary producers using the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route, it incentivises measures such as increasing the use of green electricity and decarbonising hot-forming processes. These improvements are less capital-intensive than decarbonising ore-based primary steelmaking, allowing EAF producers to achieve better performance classes faster. This is clearly demonstrated by the first certificates awarded under LESS, where secondary steel routes achieved substantially better classifications than primary steel routes, and by the first steel certification by ResponsibleSteel, which was awarded to an EAF facility with 57% scrap inputs.
The EU label should include upstream scope 3 emissions (raw materials) from the start, thereby ensuring that "near-zero steel" is truly decarbonised across the entire value chain. This prevents carbon leakage and ensures that decarbonisation efforts are not undermined by shifting emissions from one part of the value chain to the other.
The Need for Decarbonised Primary Steel in Europe
Europe cannot rely on scrap-based production alone. The availability of high-quality scrap is limited, and this will become even more of an issue as demand rises. When EAF operators cannot source enough high-quality scrap due to qualitative constraints (e.g. the level of trace elements present), they require primary iron inputs (e.g. direct reduced iron). Consequently, the distinction between primary and secondary steel production will be increasingly blurred going forward. The Sliding Scale approach takes this into account by attributing suitable emission thresholds depending on the scrap content.
If Europe fails to decarbonise its primary steel production, it risks increasing its dependency on imports, which are often from regions with higher average emissions, while undermining its own climate commitments.
A European Label for Steel
In order to increase demand for low-emission steel, Europe needs a Steel Label that provides buyers with clear, comparable and actionable information. The Sliding Scale offers the ideal foundation for such a label:
- It incentivises all producers – primary and secondary – to decarbonise.*
- It preserves Europe's industrial competitiveness by ensuring that primary and secondary steel production decarbonise and remain viable in Europe.
- It supports the EU’s and global climate goals by driving real emissions reductions, not just scrap redistribution.
- It provides transparency on both emissions intensity and scrap share, enabling informed purchasing decisions.
International Perspective
The Sliding Scale approach was developed by IEA when proposing low-carbon steel and cement definitions for policies to support decarbonisation. These principles have since been endorsed and further refined by G7 members and the Climate Club, who affirmed the need for globally harmonised, yet flexible, emissions standards to accelerate industrial decarbonisation.
Building on this foundation, the Sliding Scale was adopted by ResponsibleSteel, the Low Emissions Steel Standard (LESS), and the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), which together represent around 60% of global steel production. These are all part of the Steel Standard Principles-Initiative, which aims to align steel standards and create transparency in the market. ResponsibleSteel is actively working on interoperability and potential equivalency mechanisms with LESS and CISA to enable efficient low emissions steel markets. This enables public and private buyers to make informed, sustainable procurement decisions based on reliable and comparable data.
Demand-Side Measures and Policy Alignment
A Steel Label is only effective if paired with strong demand-side policies. Europe must actively foster lead markets that position low-emission steel as the standard choice for both public and private procurement. This requires aligning climate and industrial policies to drive demand in key sectors, such as construction, infrastructure, defence, and automotive, where steel plays a critical role. By embedding the Sliding Scale into sector-specific regulations, incentives, and public procurement criteria, Europe can create a stable, predictable market for clean steel, ensuring that its industry remains resilient and future-proof in a decarbonised global economy.
Conclusion: A Strategic Path Forward
The Sliding Scale provides a technology-neutral framework for incentivising genuine GHG emission reductions in steel production. LESS and ResponsibleSteel serve as prime examples of its successful implementation - transparent, operational standards that classifies steel based on emissions intensity and scrap share. Both systems account for upstream scope 3 emissions and are working together to ensure interoperability. By incorporating the Sliding Scale approach into the Industrial Accelerator Act and future steel policies, Europe can establish a coherent, equitable, and efficient framework for transitioning to a climate-neutral steel industry. This will accelerate decarbonisation while safeguarding jobs, strengthening industrial resilience, and upholding climate integrity.
*Includes primary producers (<25% scrap), secondary producers (>70% scrap), and producers which aren't currently classified as either (25-70% scrap).
Download the statement here.
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ResponsibleSteel joins ISEAL as a Community Member
We are delighted to announce that ResponsibleSteel has recently been approved as an ISEAL Community Member, joining a growing group of members committed to supporting and improving sustainable practices.
ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and works to help members improve these systems to achieve maximum impact. ResponsibleSteel joins several ISEAL Community Members from the mining, metals and minerals sector and looks forward to having the opportunity to share knowledge and experience in order to develop and support sustainable growth in the steel industry.
Annie Heaton, ResponsibleSteel’s CEO commented, “As the only global multistakeholder standard for steel, our aim is to be a driving force in the socially and environmentally responsible production of net-zero carbon steel. We strive to ensure that our ResponsibleSteel International Standard is the most trusted standard for responsibly sourced and produced steel and a leading authority on ESG issues in the industry.”
She continued, “Obtaining ISEAL Community Membership is a critical step on this journey and will help us improve our systems and our credibility as a global standard. We plan to work towards becoming ISEAL Code Compliant over the next few years. We look forward to working with other members of the community and sharing knowledge and experience in order to ensure our work has the greatest impact possible.”
As the only global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative for responsibly sourced and produced steel, we are committed to continuously improving our Standard, maximising steel’s contribution to a sustainable world. The ResponsibleSteel International Standard covers a range of sustainability issues: climate change, pollution, and human rights concerns by taking into account both direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, pollution from mining coal and iron ore, labour standards, and more.
ISEAL’s Executive Director, Karin Kreider, commented, “I am very excited to have ResponsibleSteel join ISEAL as a Community Member. Their standards address climate change, pollution, and human rights in various stages of the steel supply chain — the world’s most widely used material. I look forward to a fresh perspective from a new member in the mining and minerals sector and working together in the coming months and years.”
ISEAL members are sustainability systems and accreditation bodies dedicated to delivering benefits for people and the planet. They are committed to continually improving their systems and impacts through learning and innovation; collaborating with stakeholders and peers; and are transparent and truthful about how their systems work and how they measure their impacts.
We are proud to become an ISEAL Community Member and look forward to joining a growing number of sustainability initiatives that are working to drive positive change for both people and the planet.
ResponsibleSteel and global banks agree MoU for the rapid decarbonization of steel
As world leaders prepare to gather in Davos next week for the World Economic Forum, ResponsibleSteel is delighted to announce it has agreed an MoU with the Sustainable STEEL Principles Association (“SSPA”). This is a huge and positive step toward harmonization and greater collaboration between the two organisations and paves the way for the facilitation of the faster decarbonisation of steel.
Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel said, “With the clock ticking on climate change, we need pragmatic solutions to tackle climate change especially, in relation to heavy industry. These solutions need to be based on technological breakthroughs, innovation and creative problem solving. They also need to be global. None of this will be possible without a radical step change in how we finance these breakthroughs so industries like steel can decarbonize rapidly and be a force for good. The MoU between the SSPA and ResponsibleSteel signifies a continued determination by banks, the steel industry and wider stakeholders to achieve real progress towards net zero by 2050, and all the complexities which that entails.”
Steel decarbonization has come under the spotlight recently at global leaders’ meetings, for example COP26 and COP 27, which is right given the significant contribution of the industry to global greenhouse gas emissions. Amidst the proliferation of initiatives now focusing on steel decarbonization, this MoU signals a clear recognition that more work must be done to avoid a divergence of standards and work towards alignment, where possible.
Both the SSPA and ResponsibleSteel have pragmatic and expert pathways towards rapid sustainability. The SSP provide a framework for banks to assess the decarbonization of the steel companies within their portfolios, as well as the climate alignment of their steel lending portfolio. ResponsibleSteel provides an international standard for steel sites to be certified against.
Erik van Doezum, Global Steel Lead at ING and Chair of the SSP said, “The decarbonization of the steel sector globally requires significant investments to be made, and financing will be needed to facilitate these. Banks therefore will have to identify high quality decarbonization business plans, allowing them to guide their assets into investments compatible with a 1.5C future. Building consistent and transparent data via reporting requirements for the steel sector will be paramount to facilitating financing for the decarbonization of the sector. This will enable all parties – steelmakers, lenders and other stakeholders – to use and understand common measures of progress. That is why we believe that this MoU between Responsible Steel and the SSPA is important – it signifies the importance of collaboration towards those ends.”
Much analysis and scrutiny has gone into understanding the dynamics of the steel sector in the development of both the new ResponsibleSteel GHG requirements and those of the Sustainable STEEL Principles. The SSPA and ResponsibleSteel have now signaled a continuing desire to cooperate in the interest of complementarity between standards.
In addition to this MoU announced today, ResponsibleSteel is setting up a Finance Working Group (FWG) with key voices from the steel industry, global finance, investment and civil society. Its goal will be to facilitate dialogue including benchmarking carbon requirements within the ResponsibleSteel Standard and certification programme in order to facilitate capital flows to meet decarbonization requirements. The initial round of discussion will start this month and the FWG hopes to report on its recommendations by December 2023.
ArcelorMittal Monlevade becomes certified against the ResponsibleSteel Standard
The ArcelorMittal site, located in João Monlevade in the state of Minas Gerais, has recently been certified against the ResponsibleSteel Standard following a year-long process involving a rigorous audit conducted by DNV (Det Norske Veritas).
Founded in 1937, the Monlevade plant produces long carbon steels with special characteristics for the manufacture of auto parts such as steel cords for tyres, bars for shock absorbers, helical springs, fasteners, steel wool, cables, and welds. Its steel is present in three out of four tires used in Brazil.
ResponsibleSteel CEO Annie Heaton commented, “this is an exciting accomplishment which has been a long time in the works. It’s a reflection of the dedication and hard work ArcelorMittal Monlevade has put in to ensure they are meeting the highest standards of responsible steel production. In addition to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, they have set an interim commitment of reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions by 10% by 2030. They have also taken great care to meet the needs of workers and the local community and to implement practices which protect the surrounding natural environment.”
DNV Brasil’s auditors visited all the facilities of the Monlevade site and interviewed stakeholders and the site’s leadership to assess the operations and processes according to the principles of the ResponsibleSteel Standard. They interacted with employees, contractors, representatives of the City Council and social projects, and community leaders, among others.
“The ResponsibleSteel certification is one of the most complex to be achieved. It assesses governance standards, from decarbonization of processes to respect for human rights, local communities and employees, from the safety of employees and processes to the responsible use of natural resources,” explained Fabiano Cristeli, head of operations at ArcelorMittal Monlevade.
He continued, “the Biodiversity Master Plan, the high rate of water recirculation, which is 98.77%, as well as the suppliers’ training on conduct and anti-corruption policies outstood. Other actions were well rated in the report, including the fight against child labour, the preparation of teams of volunteers, and the support for social projects in the region, such as the Chords project, which consists of teaching classical music to children and youngsters.” The company’s goals of having 25% of women in leadership positions by 2030 and of being carbon neutral by 2050 also drew the auditors’ attention.
The Monlevade site will also be receiving investments of BRL 2.5 billion by 2024 to facilitate its expansion. The expansion is expected to increase production capacity from 1.2 million tons to 2.2 million tons of steel per year and create 650 jobs onsite, plus generate further jobs during the expansion process. The investment will enable the implementation of another sinter plant and a new blast furnace, in addition to other improvements. Following the expansion, the Monlevade plant will be one of the largest long carbon producers in the country.
The audit report was reviewed by an independent Assurance Panel and the certificate is valid for three years. It is the second one obtained by an ArcelorMittal operation in Brazil following the certification of the Tubarão site in March 2022. ArcelorMittal’s goal is to certify all plants in Brazil by December 2023.
Read the full press release here or watch the video announcement by ArcelorMittal South America Long CEO Jefferson de Paula here.
December 2022 Letter
Please view the December 2022 letter from our CEO, Annie Heaton, by clicking the link below:
Forum III Highlights
2022 has been a year of great progress for ResponsibleSteel and the steel industry more broadly. We have made huge strides in the last twelve months. And after three years, we were finally able to come together in person at Forum III in Memphis.
We had nearly 200 delegates from over 70 organisations around the world with speakers from leading steel companies, downstream consumers, financial institutions, and civil society. We were thrilled by the enthusiasm demonstrated and we are very grateful to everyone who participated.
We’ve put together a short video celebrating Forum III and sharing a few highlights from participants. Enjoy!
The ‘Sliding Scale’: Setting Equitable Thresholds to Drive Global Steel Decarbonisation
This September the ResponsibleSteel International Standard Version 2.0 was launched following almost three years of development by ResponsibleSteel and its multi-stakeholder membership. It included exacting new criteria on both the responsible sourcing of input materials and on climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent years have seen numerous approaches suggested for how best to define the GHG emissions of steel production. This briefing paper situates the use of a ‘sliding scale’ to evaluate a steel production site’s progress on GHG emissions as a key measure to decarbonize the global steel industry. The ‘sliding scale’ is one component of the ResponsibleSteel International Standard.
Steel is one of the world’s most widely used materials. From buildings to bridges, from cargo ships to cutlery, electric vehicles to wind turbines – steel is at the foundation of contemporary societies and in the infrastructure needed to transition to more sustainable ones. Steel has pertinent impacts on both people and planet across environmental, social, and governance issues.
One such issue that is increasingly in the global spotlight is the steel sector’s contribution to climate change. Steel production is estimated to directly emit between 7% and 9% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Diverse actors and stakeholders are taking action to catalyze change and reduce the GHG emissions of the steel sector – civil society, governments, multilateral bodies, steelmakers, steel buyers, financiers, think tanks, academics, and many more.
While the proliferation of actors engaging in this issue is welcome and essential to achieving optimal outcomes, the challenge of steel decarbonisation is best served by the non-proliferation of standards. Common, consistent, and globally comparable definitions are needed.
Decarbonising steel and the ‘sliding scale’
Reducing the steel sector’s global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero will need the world to use less steel, use steel more efficiently, switch to alternative less emissions-intensive materials where possible, maximise the reuse and recycling of steel and, critically, decarbonize steel production itself.
Steel is made with iron-bearing input material through the reduction of iron ore and the recycling of scrap metal. Steelmaking sites use differing shares of these two input materials and consequently different sources of energy input. Iron ore based production – which makes up around 70% of today’s steelmaking – is far more emissions intensive than scrap based production, since stripping oxygen from iron ore is extremely energy intensive and today relies on fossil fuels. Innovative production methods, including those that use cleaner fuels such as hydrogen, are poised to reduce this emissions intensity, but the scale and cost of the transition has historically been prohibitive. In scrap based production, electricity is used and emissions are lower, meaning emissions can be reduced through the procurement of renewable electricity.
Significant demand side measures will be needed to reduce the consumption and therefore production of steel, but 1.5C scenarios still demonstrate the need for significant decarbonisation of steel production. For instance, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Sustainable Development Scenario, which outlines a trajectory compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement, is based on the assumption that two-fifths of the emissions reductions from steel until 2050 occur from material efficiency.
Estimates suggest that about 85% of globally available scrap steel is recycled today. This number must be increased to as close to 100% as possible and the quality of steel reuse and recycling vastly improved, but it also reflects the fact that there is limited and constrained room for growth of scrap steel, at least in the short term. It is well established that there is simply not enough scrap steel to meet demand today nor is there likely to be in 2050. For example, the IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario, despite its assumption of significant material efficiency, projects total demand increasing from today to around 2 billion tonnes annually in 2050. In this scenario, scrap makes up 46% of iron bearing material, leaving the remainder to be met through iron ore. Additionally, some grades of steel currently require iron ore based production methods. This is not to say that both quantity and quality of scrap steel recovery, processing and use should not be systematically addressed and ameliorated. Rather, that new iron ore based steel will be needed to meet socio-economic needs and to transition to a low carbon future.
The scarcity of scrap combined with its lower emissions profile and the ability of steel plants to incrementally increase scrap input together mean that emissions intensity alone is an insufficient measure to drive the decarbonisation of the steel industry. Incremental increases in scrap usage can significantly lower the emissions profile of steel production at a given steelmaking site, but it is important to be mindful of only serving to shift around the finite supply of scrap from one producer to another.
For the steel customer aiming to contribute to decarbonizing the industry, how can they help to drive industry wide decarbonization? Of course the first principles of design and material efficiency are central, as is driving and enacting genuine high-quality circularity within their operations and supply chain. Selecting steel products according to their emissions intensity alone would drive demand towards steel with higher scrap shares. This could simply cause the finite volumes of scrap to be reallocated, without decarbonizing the industry as a whole.
Setting variable thresholds for embodied GHG emissions that take account of the share of scrap input resolves this issue, and provides effective benchmarks for steelmakers whatever level of scrap they use, and so drives the structural, physical decarbonisation of the steel industry. The ResponsibleSteel Standard V2.0 defines quantitative performance levels for the GHG emissions intensity of crude steel production. It gives four levels ranging from the basic threshold to the near zero threshold. Approaches taking account of the variable amounts of scrap used in production have been dubbed the ‘sliding scale’.
Illustration based on ResponsibleSteel International Standard Version 2.0
Underpinning the ResponsibleSteel scrap-variable GHG thresholds are the accounting rules within its International Standard V2.0 which ensure the consistent and transparent measuring of GHG emissions at the site level. These rules, together with the thresholds, provide a tool for decision makers that reflect a number of principles ResponsibleSteel believes are essential to the establishment of an international standard to drive global steel decarbonization:
Comparable. Specifying the emissions from mine to crude steel production, the standard uses a boundary common to every steelmaker, to ensure comparability of steel production from one producer to another, anywhere in the world and no matter their level of integration. Consistent accounting rules enable ‘apples for apples’ consideration of the GHG emissions embodied in steel.
Stable but adaptable. The ResponsibleSteel International Standard V2.0 also includes a five-yearly review of the specified thresholds, enabling them to be revised with the objective “to achieve the fastest global transition to a near zero steel sector”. This ensures a level of predictability and stability to the thresholds, whilst also leaving flexibility to tighten the requirements and the level of ambition as our understanding of the 1.5°C challenge evolves. The ‘sliding scale’ itself does not prescribe how much steel should meet what level by when. Rather it provides simple graduated measures of progress towards near zero that can be used as an effective tool by customers and governments to achieve their ambitions. Various scenarios provide indications of what is needed, the Mission Possible Partnership’s Carbon Cost scenario for example, identifies the need for 170 million tonnes of annual near zero iron ore based production to be online by 2030 if the industry is to stay on track for a 1.5°C future.
Technology agnostic. The ‘sliding scale’ approach is technology agnostic – it assesses performance by the progress a site makes on GHG emissions. It rewards sites making decarbonization investments across technology measures and means that, regardless of the availability of scrap metal or production technology route, producers can be incentivised to reduce emissions through ever higher levels of recognition.
Equitable. Furthermore, the sliding scale ensures that the standard is globally comparable and non-discriminatory. Steel is produced – and needed – across the world and yet the availability of scrap is geographically uneven. Countries with longer histories of large scale steel production and so greater existing stocks of steel – in cars, buildings, ships – have greater opportunities to recycle steel and therefore produce steel from scrap. In practice, this means that countries that today have growing steel demand – which historically has been closely linked to social and economic development – face the greatest obstacles to meeting demand with steel from scrap. While scrap is an internationally traded commodity, it is increasingly seen as a strategic resource and can be subject to export restrictions.
For further information on the rationale for a ‘sliding scale’ approach, see the article ‘Achieving Net Zero in the Steel Sector’ in Chatham House’s Sustainability Accelerator, and the IEA’s (2022) recent report to the G7.
A vital piece of the puzzle
Sustainable development focused. The ‘sliding scale’ is not a silver bullet. ResponsibleSteel’s strategic mission is to drive the production of net zero steel globally that is both environmentally and socially responsible. The ResponsibleSteel International Standard Version 2.0 requires steelmaking sites to operate responsibly across 13 principles that incorporate the full spectrum of environmental, social, and governance issues relevant to the steel sector. The Standard was developed by ResponsibleSteel and its multi-stakeholder membership aiming to follow ISEAL Codes of Good Practice. Certification against the Standard is backed by a robust assurance programme. To date, steelmaking sites across five continents representing over 100 million tonnes of production capacity and over 157,000 workers have been site certified.
Complementary. An effective ‘sliding scale’ complements rather than replaces other measures and performance requirements on decarbonisation and greenhouse gas emissions. The ResponsibleSteel International Standard V2.0 takes a multifaceted approach to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Alongside variable performance thresholds and among other requirements, it mandates both science-based targets at the corporate level (with strategies and plans at the site level) and, at higher levels of certification, it requires product carbon footprints for steel sold from a site. Net zero targets drive and reward forward planning, and science-based targets ensure the early investments required to deliver GHG emissions reductions within 5-10 years. Data on product carbon footprints can be used by customers to measure emissions in their supply chain and reduce emissions on a company, project and product level, while the ‘sliding scale’ ensures those products are contributing to global climate goals. It can also complement minimum scrap thresholds for products and measures to maximise material efficiency, the reuse, and the recycling of steel.
Scrap-variable thresholds have been included in ResponsibleSteel’s climate change and GHG emissions approach to ensure that the Standard is comparable, enabling apples for apples consideration of steel production globally, stable but adaptive, technology agnostic, equitable, sustainable development focused, and complementary to other measures and performance requirements. These principles, among many others, are vital to setting effective and common definitions. The ‘sliding scale’ enables policy makers, steel buyers, and financiers to match ambition with real, physical decarbonisation of the steel industry – globally. It should be used as a key measure of GHG emissions performance for steelmaking.
November 2022 Newsletter
Please view our November 2022 newsletter by clicking the link below:
Shaping the future of responsible steel
We are at a critical juncture in the steel industry. We have the opportunity to create real, long-lasting change for both people and the planet.
ResponsibleSteel is working to drive the creation of a net zero industry with sustainability at its core. We are a community with members from across the steel value chain and civil society. And we are proud to have around 13% of the global steel industry in membership and certified sites on 5 continents covering the production of over 100 million tonnes of steel.
It’s time to build momentum and work together to shape the future of the industry.
ResponsibleSteel Applauds Site Certification of POSCO and Tata Steel Sites
ResponsibleSteel today applauded the certification of the world’s largest steel sites achieving ResponsibleSteel certification. The sites are Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks in South Korea operated by POSCO together with the Jamshedpur site in India operated by TATA Steel.
This is a monumental step forward for ResponsibleSteel and the global steel industry on the road to sustainable development and decarbonisation. ResponsibleSteel now has around 13% of the world’s steel industry by volume in its membership, with certified sites on 5 continents covering the production of over 100 million tonnes of steel.
Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel speaking at Forum III: Shaping the future of responsible steel in Memphis said, “This is a historic moment for both ResponsibleSteel and the global steel industry on the road to sustainability. With Asia home to 72% of the world’s steel production, the achievement of site certification by these three substantial steel plants takes ResponsibleSteel into a new phase, one of global roll out.”
The ResponsibleSteel Standard is designed to drive forward positive actions for people, planet and the steel industry. The sheer scale of the POSCO and Tata sites certified today means that the production of 103.5 million tonnes of steel and the working lives of 157.4 thousand people are managed by sites that are now independently audited every 18 months.
Heaton continued, “For the steel companies themselves, this has required enormous vision, investment and above all commitment, creating a community of like-minded people working together to find solutions to some of the most pressing issues of the day – climate change, air pollution, diversity and labour rights to name just a few. There will be further to go, but today the producers of over 100 million tonnes of steel can proudly say they have achieved ResponsibleSteel site certification and are well on their way.”
Hag-dong Kim, CEO of POSCO said, “It is a great honour that both Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks, the world’s two largest mills, have been certified by ResponsibleSteel. Today, as we prepare for the post-pandemic era, it is more important than ever for the steel industry to fulfil its social responsibility and to practice sustainable manufacturing.
To remain viable and competitive, the steel industry must identify sustainable solutions to diverse ESG challenges, such as by achieving carbon neutrality and building a safe workplace.”
Hag-dong Kim continued, “We appreciate ResponsibleSteel’s vision to ‘maximize the steel sector’s contribution to a sustainable society’ and the mission to ‘enhance the responsible sourcing, production, use, and recycling of steel,’ which are commensurate to POSCO’s management philosophy: Corporate Citizenship.
Together with our core values of ‘coexistence’ and ‘symbiosis,’ the new philosophy has propelled us forward on our path to sustainability. I believe this is just the beginning. To build a sustainable business, we hope other sites besides Pohang and Gwangyang will drive change and innovation to seek certification too.”
T. V. Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel, said, “This is a historic moment for Tata Steel and an important step in our sustainability journey. Globally, the steel industry is at a critical juncture and the larger impact of how we produce and consume steel needs to be addressed urgently. For Tata Steel, this has always been a very important part of our journey from when we first produced steel in Jamshedpur in 1912. We are honoured to receive the ResponsibleSteel Certification for three of our facilities and will work towards achieving this recognition for all our production sites. I thank the ResponsibleSteel team, the auditors, assurance panel and the team at Tata Steel for their efforts in making this possible.”
For more information/press interviews with ResponsibleSteel or its members please contact:
Ali Lucas, Director of Communications
alucas@responsiblesteel.org
+44 7786 546724
Savannah Hayes, Communications Manager
shayes@responsiblesteel.org
+44 7588 785909
Denise Meredith, Communications and Media Consultant
denisemeredith1857@gmail.com
+44 7930 531128
September 2022 Newsletter
Please view our September 2022 newsletter by clicking the link below:
A Race Against Time: Key Takeaways from NYC Climate Week 2022
Last week, ResponsibleSteel’s CEO, Annie Heaton, and Policy and Impacts Director, Shivakumar Kuppuswamy, were on the ground in New York for Climate Week. Participating in discussions with industry, policy, and sustainability leaders, it was heartening to see an interconnected ecosystem emerging on steel decarbonization. And everyone was talking about the need for a single, verifiable standard.
Climate Week evidenced the growing private sector demand for responsibly produced steel and the increasing pressure for science-based targets and clear roadmaps to achieve net zero. Shiv participated in two critical roundtable debates hosted by Climate Group, dissecting corporate barriers to climate change and discussing the opportunities to accelerate the fulfilment of decarbonization targets set out by the Paris Agreement.
“It’s a race against time. We have a window of 8 to 10 years left to find the financial resources to make a difference in steel decarbonization. Who’s going to rise to the challenge?” – Shiv, Policy and Impacts Director
The need for greater investment in decarbonizing heavy industry is more urgent than ever. This was the focal point for the ‘It’s a Material World’ panel led by Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative. As Shiv stressed, there is a pressing need for time-bound and effective mobilization of large capital to meet steel decarbonization targets and a credible and holistic standard will have a strategic role in this. Building on this, Annie spoke at the launch of the Sustainable STEEL Principles to a crowded room of bankers and fund managers. Bringing together six leading global banks, the Principles will help banks measure and report the emissions associated with their steel loan portfolios compared to net-zero emissions pathways.
ResponsibleSteel has a unique and critical role to play in all this. Our International Standard V2.0 provides clear thresholds to measure GHG performance taking into account the amount of scrap used as input. But it also addresses a range of other crucial issues across the ESG spectrum from labour rights to pressing environmental issues such as biodiversity.
And, as Annie highlighted at a meeting of clean technology innovators for mining, the latest ResponsibleSteel Standard is enabling customers to demand higher standards along the entire value chain, including the social and environmental impacts of how input materials are sourced.
Find out more about the ResponsibleSteel International Standard V2.0 here.
Catch up on Climate Week here.
ArcelorMittal Poland Obtains ResponsibleSteel Certification
ArcelorMittal Poland has become the most recent cluster of sites to receive ResponsibleSteel certification. After a successful audit carried out by ResponsibleSteel accredited auditors from DNV Poland, ArcelorMittal Poland received the certificate which confirms it had fulfilled the criteria required to earn certification against the ResponsibleSteel Standard. The certificate covers sites in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Kraków, Zdzieszowice, Świętochłowice, Sosnowiec, and Chorzów which collectively employ over 9,000 workers and contractors and produce over 3.9 million tonnes of steel annually.
The independent audits are designed to verify that a steel site’s activities meet ResponsibleSteel’s set of rigorously defined requirements, based not only on supplied documentation but also on a number of interviews with internal and external stakeholders. The auditors take into account a broad range of social and environmental criteria split across 12 ESG principles. Social aspects include business integrity, relations with employees and communities, human rights and labour rights. Environmental criteria cover climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, water management, waste and noise emissions and biodiversity. ArcelorMittal Poland currently aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 35% by 2030 in line with ArcelorMittal’s broader European target.
Commenting on the certification, Sanjay Samaddar, chairman of ArcelorMittal Poland stated: “This certificate is a great recognition for us at ArcelorMittal Poland but also a commitment to our stakeholders. Steel is the world’s most widely used material. Our customers in the automotive, construction, energy, infrastructure, packaging, transport and white goods sectors have growing expectations that the materials they work with are produced by sites that respect the highest social and environmental standards. The ResponsibleSteel certificate is proof of responsible management and gives us further motivation for development. Our activities directed towards our employees, communities and sustainable development were recognized, which makes us very proud.”
Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel, said: “We are very proud to announce the certification of ArcelorMittal Poland against the ResponsibleSteel Standard. It is the first cluster of sites to be certified in Eastern Europe and joins several ArcelorMittal sites certified against our Standard.”
She continued: “The audit process revealed ArcelorMittal Poland’s strong corporate governance structures, close relationships with local stakeholders, dedication to employee welfare, and commitment to responsible environmental practices, notably water management and biodiversity. It is a significant achievement which has taken considerable time and effort and we look forward to continuing to work with ArcelorMittal Poland on their journey to produce more responsible steel.”
To learn more about the certification, read the public audit summary report here.
