New Report: Steel Industry Vulnerable, Must Prepare for Decarbonization
Top 20 companies are not on pace to hit critical emissions reductions needed for 1.5-degree threshold
CDP, formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project, published a new report assessing 20 of the largest and high-impact publicly listed steel companies on their readiness for a low-carbon transition. The report, entitled “Melting Point,” identified SSAB, ArcelorMittal, Hyundai Steel, and Tata Steel as the companies best positioned to succeed as the industry transitions to low carbonization; the least prepared companies were Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel, U.S. Steel, and Beijing Shougang. U.S. Steel, along with Nucor, declined to respond to CDP’s 2018 climate change questionnaire.
In response to the report, Mighty Earth Campaign Director Margaret Hansbrough released the following statement:
“This report is a clear signal to the steel industry and global investors that the time to act on the climate crisis is now. The transition to a low-carbon economy is coming, and implications for the entire construction sector are massive. In the next 18 months, each of the companies named in this report must step up and put forward public plans for deep decarbonization.
“This report also exposes the vulnerability of customers. Top steel consumers like Skanska, the global green construction leader, source steel directly from companies identified by CDP. General Motors and its joint ventures continue to buy from many of the companies named in the report for not doing enough to decarbonize.
“Leaders and investors in the auto and construction industries need to step up in an unprecedented way to begin the hard but critical work of decarbonizing their steel supply chains.”
The IPCC reported that in order to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius, industrial emissions must be cut in half in the next ten years. In 2018, Mighty Earth launched a global campaign focused on cleaning up the steel industry, which accounts for an estimated 8 percent of global emissions, and is pushing major producers and their customers to commit to carbon neutrality. Mighty Earth published a report in October 2018 calling for Nucor to adopt new practices and for its customers to hold it accountable to climate action.
Earlier this year, steel producer ArcelorMittal pledged carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050 and consumer Skanska UK pledged total carbon neutrality for its supply chain by 2045.
CDP and Mighty Earth are both members of ResponsibleSteel, a coalition which will set standards and certification plans for the steel industry by 2020. To access the CDP report, please visit https://bit.ly/2Yf031X.
