Public consultation launched on Principle 10 of the ResponsibleSteel International Standard, relating to Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

ResponsibleSteel is committed to driving progress towards net zero. Today we have launched a public consultation on provisional interpretations of the ResponsibleSteel International Standard V2.0 and proposed revisions to Principle 10 relating to Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

ResponsibleSteel’s Progress Levels developed in consultation with our members and stakeholders, have been designed to reward advancement on the path to net zero, driving progress on a global scale. The suggested changes to Principle 10 represent an update to the threshold for Decarbonisation Progress Level 1 and also have implications for Levels 2 and 3.

Our approach to developing Progress Level 1 remains unchanged. It aims to:

• Represent a distribution of existing steel sites where approximately 50% sit ‘below’ the threshold, and
• Provide a slightly shallower gradient in order to incentivize the use of scrap globally to a greater extent, since today not all end-of-life scrap created is recovered.

Progress Level 4 is designed to align with the near-zero threshold of the International Energy Agency (2021) with Levels 2 and 3 providing regular points of progress on the journey from Level 1 to Level 4.

As part of the 12-month test phase, ResponsibleSteel conducted a detailed 9-month review of these Progress Levels using data provided by a working group of steelmakers and with the oversight of a multistakeholder Technical Advisory Group of independent experts in order to better meet our goals.

We are now seeking views from any organisation that considers itself a stakeholder in the way decarbonisation progress towards net zero steel is defined at site level, whether or not they are members of ResponsibleSteel.

Once complete, the secretariat will review feedback and seek approval from the ResponsibleSteel Board to make an Urgent Revision to Principle 10 of the Standard. Feedback to provisional interpretations shall also be reviewed and approved by the ResponsibleSteel Standards, Assurance and Claims Committee. We aim to publish our final revisions in Q1 2024.

Please note that we will also be reviewing the test phase results on Principle 3: Responsible Sourcing of Input Materials in 2024. ResponsibleSteel shall convene a series of member multistakeholder workshops commencing in December 2023 to further investigate the challenges and produce recommendations on whether revisions should be made to Principle 3 of the Standard. Please get in touch with us if you would like to participate.

Submissions for feedback on provisional interpretations and revisions to Principle 10 will be open until Monday, January 22nd 23:59 GMT. For more information and to submit feedback, please visit our Standard Development page.