The World Steel Association (worldsteel) launched the Sustainable Steel Policy and Indicators 2015 Report, highlighting how steel and the steel industry contribute to and perform in the areas of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The Report highlights the steel industry’s performance throughout 2014 against eight sustainability indicators, measured annually since 2003. Publication of the Report reflects the steel industry’s efforts to continuously improve performance in sustainability, to demonstrate commitment, and to enhance transparency. Reporting is voluntary and in 2014 a total of 147 companies worldwide participated in the study, up from 42 in 2004. Crude steel produced by companies who reported on one or more indicators for the 2014 fiscal year was 923Mt, representing 55% of global crude steel production.

Edwin Basson, Director General of worldsteel, said: “As an industry, we recognise the critical need to measure progress against sustainability targets. I am proud to report that participation levels amongst worldsteel members and non-member companies continue to grow and we strongly encourage reporting across the industry to help us to improve, and to demonstrate the transparency that our stakeholders rightly expect.

We have outlined seven principles in our Sustainable Development Policy that we are committed to and that will help us align our goals with the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. As an industry we are working according to these principles to maximise the results we can achieve together today and in the future.”

Commenting on the industry’s performance, Edwin Basson said: “Data for sustainability indicators has been collected since 2004 and the industry has improved over that period in many areas. However, there are a number of challenges that we continue to face and in some areas our performance still falls short of our ambitions. We are working to address these as a priority and will not compromise on our commitments.”

For environmental performance in 2014, average greenhouse gas emissions were at 1.9 t of CO₂ per tonne of crude steel cast and energy intensity was at 20.4 GJ per tonne of crude steel cast. Material efficiency indicator results showed that 97.6% of materials used on-site to make crude steel are converted to products and by-products. The environmental management systems (EMS) indicator demonstrated that 94.2% of steel industry employees and contractors worked in EMS registered production facilities, e.g. with ISO14001 certification.

For social performance, the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) was at 1.4 injuries per million hours worked in 2014 while the employee training indicator showed that employees (at both production & non-production facilities) received an average of 6.5 training days during the year.

For economic performance, investment in new processes and products in 2014 was at 7.5 % of revenue while economic value distributed (EVD) reached 954 billion US$ globally or 97.3% of revenue.

worldsteel, Chicago