Aperam Becomes First Stainless Steel Company to Earn ResponsibleSteel Certification

23 September 2021 – ResponsibleSteel is delighted to announce, at an event hosted by Aperam, that the company’s Stainless Steel operations in Europe successfully passed third-party audit against the ResponsibleSteel Standard – the global sustainability standard for the steel sector.

ResponsibleSteel CEO, Anne-Claire Howard, said: “I am delighted that Aperam, a ResponsibleSteel™ Member since 2019, is the first stainless steelmaker to be awarded our certification for their European Stainless Steel operations. The ResponsibleSteel™ Standard, created by the steel sector’s only truly global multi-stakeholder initiative, contains a very exacting set of ESG criteria which we hope gives business and consumers confidence that the site at which the steel is being produced is operated responsibly. I would like to congratulate the teams at Aperam who supported the development of the ResponsibleSteel™ Standard and are now able to see it implemented at five sites in France and Belgium. We look forward to continuing to work together on the next phase of our journey – Certified Steel.”

The ResponsibleSteel Standard was developed over three years through wide ranging public consultation with industry and civil society. It contains 12 principles with a wide range of criteria covering issues such as: health and safety, greenhouse gas emissions, water stewardship and biodiversity, human rights and labour rights and community relations. It is the world’s first and only global definition of what constitutes leading practices in environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibility for steel production.

The audit of Aperam’s facilities took place in June and included Aperam’s Châtelet, Genk, Gueugnon, Isbergues and Saint-Denis sites in Belgium and France.

Mr. Timoteo Di Maulo, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Leadership Team, said: “Aperam becoming the first stainless steel player to be certified under the ResponsibleSteel™ Standard is reassurance to our stakeholders that we produce responsibly. With Aperam, our customers have selected a partner of choice, offering them responsibly produced solutions that are also 100% recyclable and low carbon – solutions that are much needed for the sustainable society we strive to live in. At Aperam, we are convinced that true business success can only come together with social and environmental sustainability and we will pursue our strategy to further embed sustainability within all our processes. Aperam is proud to be the frontrunner of its industry in the field of Corporate Responsibility and we are delighted that all our teams’ efforts on sustainability and responsibility, already evidenced by our state-of-the-art CO2 footprint, are now fully recognized with an all-encompassing third-party certification of our processes at Stainless Europe.”

About ResponsibleSteel

ResponsibleSteel is an international, non-profit multi-stakeholder membership organisation. Businesses from every part of the steel supply chain, civil society groups, associations, and other organisations with an interest in a sustainable steel industry from anywhere in the world are welcome to join. To view the ResponsibleSteel membership list visit: https://www.responsiblesteel.org/about/members-and-associates/

ResponsibleSteel’s vision is that steel’s contribution to a sustainable society is maximised. Its mission is to enhance the responsible sourcing, production, use and recycling of steel by:

• Providing a multi-stakeholder forum to built trust and achieve consensus;
• Developing standards, certification and related tools;
• Driving positive change through the recognition and use of responsible steel.
• The ResponsibleSteel Standard is designed to support the responsible production of steel, as a tool for the achievement of ResponsibleSteel’s vision.

Find current issued certificates and their public audit summaries here.
For more information about ResponsibleSteel please visit: https://www.responsiblesteel.org/

For media enquiries contact:

Anne-Claire Howard, CEO                       +44 (0) 7787 411 461
Ali Lucas, Communications Director     +44 (0) 7786 546 724

About Aperam

Aperam is a global player in stainless, electrical and specialty steel, with customers in over 40 countries. The business is organised in three primary operating segments: Stainless & Electrical Steel, Services & Solutions and Alloys & Specialties. Aperam has a flat Stainless and Electrical steel capacity of 2.5 million tonnes in Brazil and Europe and is a leader in high value specialty products. In addition to its industrial network, spread over six production facilities in Brazil, Belgium and France, Aperam has a highly integrated distribution, processing and services network and a unique capability to produce stainless and special steels from low cost biomass (charcoal made from its own FSC-certified forestry). In 2020, Aperam had sales of EUR 3,624 million and steel shipments of 1.68 million tonnes.

For further information, please refer to our website at www.aperam.com

Contact

Corporate Communications / Laurent Beauloye: +352 27 36 27 103
Investor Relations / Thorsten Zimmermann: +352 27 36 67 304