Corporate responsibility

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Our environmental policy, based on 10 principles, applies to every aspect of our operations.

Making steel more sustainable

Steel is at the heart of the modern world. It forms the infrastructure of modern life, from railways, to cars, to washing machines and pipes and tubes that enable anything from energy distribution to water management. It’s a highly adaptable material, and infinitely recyclable, which means that its sustainability extends beyond the life of the original product. That said, we do recognise that steelmaking is resource-intensive. However, the steel industry in Europe has already cut its CO2 emissions by half in the last 40 years and many of our sites have already done all that is currently possible. We continue to support a lower-carbon world through energy savings, and greener products and services.

2012 progress at a glance

Our commitments Our progress Next steps
Climate change
  • To develop products that support a low carbon and sustainable world.
  • To reduce our CO2 emissions from steel production by 8% per tonne of steel by 2020, compared with 2007.
  • $285m spent on research and development, with $53m on ‘green products’ and ‘green processes’.1
  • 2.13 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel produced, compared to 2.09 tonnes in 2011.
  • Continue to develop new steel products to help customers and end users reduce their CO2 emissions.
Environmental management
  • To have all our steel sites ISO 14001 certified.
  • To improve the energy efficiency of our sites.
  • To continue investment in air pollution control.
  • To responsibly manage water use.
  • ISO 14001 certification at 98% of our steel plants.
  • Energy-efficient good practices deployed at 49 sites.
  • Environmental capital expenditure of $321m.
  • Implementation of water guidelines at units in Brazil.
  • Certify 100% of our steel plants to ISO 14001.
  • Review and update the group environment policy.
  • Full deployment of key energy good practices.
Biodiversity
  • To support local biodiversity.
  • Published a biodiversity policy specific to Liberia.
  • Completed ecosystems assessments in Baffin Island, Canada.
  • Implement biodiversity action plans.

KPI: We report on our progress against the key performance indicators that monitor the four areas of our corporate responsibility strategy.

1 Green products and green processes are defined as those that generate environmental benefits such as CO2 savings, environmental protection or reduction in hazardous waste.

This web-page was part of Deloitte's CR report assurance scope. View Deloitte LLPs assurance statement.