ResponsibleSteel Applauds Site Certification of POSCO and Tata Steel Sites
ResponsibleSteel today applauded the certification of the world’s largest steel sites achieving ResponsibleSteel certification. The sites are Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks in South Korea operated by POSCO together with the Jamshedpur site in India operated by TATA Steel.
This is a monumental step forward for ResponsibleSteel and the global steel industry on the road to sustainable development and decarbonisation. ResponsibleSteel now has around 13% of the world’s steel industry by volume in its membership, with certified sites on 5 continents covering the production of over 100 million tonnes of steel.
Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel speaking at Forum III: Shaping the future of responsible steel in Memphis said, “This is a historic moment for both ResponsibleSteel and the global steel industry on the road to sustainability. With Asia home to 72% of the world’s steel production, the achievement of site certification by these three substantial steel plants takes ResponsibleSteel into a new phase, one of global roll out.”
The ResponsibleSteel Standard is designed to drive forward positive actions for people, planet and the steel industry. The sheer scale of the POSCO and Tata sites certified today means that the production of 103.5 million tonnes of steel and the working lives of 157.4 thousand people are managed by sites that are now independently audited every 18 months.
Heaton continued, “For the steel companies themselves, this has required enormous vision, investment and above all commitment, creating a community of like-minded people working together to find solutions to some of the most pressing issues of the day – climate change, air pollution, diversity and labour rights to name just a few. There will be further to go, but today the producers of over 100 million tonnes of steel can proudly say they have achieved ResponsibleSteel site certification and are well on their way.”
Hag-dong Kim, CEO of POSCO said, “It is a great honour that both Pohang and Gwangyang Steelworks, the world’s two largest mills, have been certified by ResponsibleSteel. Today, as we prepare for the post-pandemic era, it is more important than ever for the steel industry to fulfil its social responsibility and to practice sustainable manufacturing.
To remain viable and competitive, the steel industry must identify sustainable solutions to diverse ESG challenges, such as by achieving carbon neutrality and building a safe workplace.”
Hag-dong Kim continued, “We appreciate ResponsibleSteel’s vision to ‘maximize the steel sector’s contribution to a sustainable society’ and the mission to ‘enhance the responsible sourcing, production, use, and recycling of steel,’ which are commensurate to POSCO’s management philosophy: Corporate Citizenship.
Together with our core values of ‘coexistence’ and ‘symbiosis,’ the new philosophy has propelled us forward on our path to sustainability. I believe this is just the beginning. To build a sustainable business, we hope other sites besides Pohang and Gwangyang will drive change and innovation to seek certification too.”
T. V. Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel, said, “This is a historic moment for Tata Steel and an important step in our sustainability journey. Globally, the steel industry is at a critical juncture and the larger impact of how we produce and consume steel needs to be addressed urgently. For Tata Steel, this has always been a very important part of our journey from when we first produced steel in Jamshedpur in 1912. We are honoured to receive the ResponsibleSteel Certification for three of our facilities and will work towards achieving this recognition for all our production sites. I thank the ResponsibleSteel team, the auditors, assurance panel and the team at Tata Steel for their efforts in making this possible.”
For more information/press interviews with ResponsibleSteel or its members please contact:
Ali Lucas, Director of Communications
alucas@responsiblesteel.org
+44 7786 546724
Savannah Hayes, Communications Manager
shayes@responsiblesteel.org
+44 7588 785909
Denise Meredith, Communications and Media Consultant
denisemeredith1857@gmail.com
+44 7930 531128
