steel<\/a> certification and standards bodies have signed up to the agreement at the COP30 climate conference in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil.<\/p>\nResponsibleSteel, a global not-for profit organisation set up to provide certification and standards for steel production, signed partnership agreements with Germany\u2019s Low Emission Steel Standard and with China\u2019s Low-carbon Emission Steel Standard on 14 November.<\/p>\n
Combined, the agreements cover 60 per cent of the world\u2019s steel production.<\/p>\n
Michael Sansom, sustainability director at the British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA), told Construction News<\/em> the agreements will create a more level playing field.<\/p>\n\u201cThe important point is that all the classifications of steel will be based on the same sliding scale, with the bands for each classification getting tighter as we move towards 2050,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Each region calculates GHG emissions in a slightly different way and have definitions of low-carbon steel that vary.<\/p>\n
Now, the agreements will allow classifications to be aligned between regions, so that low-emission steels can be compared and traded globally, creating clarity for buyers of steel, investors and policymakers.<\/p>\n
The agreements are a step closer to reducing GHG emissions from primary steel, which is made from iron ore.<\/p>\n
Although secondary steel, which is made using scrap steel typically in an electric arc furnace (EAF), has far lower embodied carbon than primary steel, global quantities of scrap metal are finite.<\/p>\n
Currently, steel made from scrap accounts for around 30 per cent of global demand. This is expected to rise to 50 per cent by 2050, according to a study published earlier this year by the BCSA, the Institution of Structural Engineers and Climate Group SteelZero.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are already recycling between 80 and 85 per cent of scrap steel globally and although more will become available over time, particularly from China, demand for steel will exceed the supply of scrap, certainly until 2050,\u201d said Sansom.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing EAF steel might lower the embodied carbon of a project, but it won\u2019t make a difference to global steel emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK steel industry is currently waiting for the government to publish its steel strategy, the \u2018Plan for Steel\u2019.<\/p>\n
Originally due earlier this year, its publication was pushed back to December due to the government\u2019s emergency takeover of British Steel.<\/p>\n
The BCSA would like to see a decarbonisation roadmap for the UK.<\/p>\n
The UK presently consumes around 10.5 million tonnes of steel and in 2024 produced 4 million tonnes of steel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK\u2019s steel industry has welcomed a new agreement which will see global producers adopt a common approach to the measurement of greenhouse gases (GHG) and classifications of low-carbon steel. Three major steel certification and standards bodies have signed up to the agreement at the COP30 climate conference in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. ResponsibleSteel, a global not-for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability"],"yoast_head":"\n
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