SKF joins ResponsibleSteel and SteelZero

21 September 2021, London – SKF – global ball bearing and seal manufacturer, has joined ResponsibleSteel – and at the same time SteelZero – demonstrating their strong commitment to drive decarbonisation of the steel industry.

SKF joins over 100 other global organisations who are members of ResponsibleSteel – the only global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative with a mission to maximise steel’s contributions to a sustainable society.

SteelZero is led by the Climate Group and in partnership with ResponsibleSteel. By joining SteelZero, SKF commits to using 100% net zero steel by 2050 and joins ten other businesses that have already made this pledge, including Lendlease, Mace Group and Ørsted.

Today greenhouse gas emissions from the steel sector alone account for around 7% of global annual emissions, and this is projected to rise in line with increasing demand. Given we have less than 10 years to halve global carbon emissions to get the world on track to reach net zero by mid-century, decarbonising steelmaking needs to be a critical part of that journey.

SKF offers solutions around the rotating shaft, including bearings, seals, lubrication, condition monitoring and maintenance services.

Rickard Gustafson, CEO SKF, said: “Steel is by far the biggest source of carbon emissions upstream in SKF’s supply chain. The transition from the current global steel production infrastructure to one which is carbon neutral is a massive undertaking. We are already working with our steel suppliers on this, but there are limitations on how much change we can drive unilaterally. We will be working together with other like-minded industrial users of steel to advocate for the structural changes needed and we will do this through our active membership of the SteelZero and ResponsibleSteel initiatives.”

Anne-Claire Howard, CEO of ResponsibleSteel, said: “We are delighted to welcome SKF as a member of ResponsibleSteel. We work with organisations from every stage of the steel supply chain – and partnering with companies who have the influence to drive the market demand for steel supplies to be sourced and produced responsibly will help accelerate the steel industry to become net zero by 2050.”

Mike Pierce, Director of Corporate Partnerships of the Climate Group, said: “Action is needed now to decarbonise the steel industry. SKF’s commitment demonstrates a clear drive to tackle climate change and sends a strong demand signal for net zero steel to the industry. We’re delighted that SKF has joined SteelZero. More businesses need to follow in SKF’s footsteps for us to be within a fighting chance of limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5C.”

-ENDS-

For any media enquiries, including interview requests, please contact:

Hannah Fairley, senior communications officer at Climate Group at hfairley(at)theclimategroup.org
Alison Lucas, communications director at ResponsibleSteel at alucas(at)responsiblesteel.org
Sian How, Manager Group PR at SKF at sian.how(at)skf.co

Notes to editors

About ResponsibleSteel

ResponsibleSteel’s mission is to maximise steel’s contribution to a sustainable society. A not-for-profit organisation, ResponsibleSteel is the industry’s first global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative. With members from every stage of the steel supply chain, ResponsibleSteel is developing an independent certification standard to ensure businesses and consumers can be confident that the steel they use has been sourced and produced responsibly at every stage.

About SteelZero

SteelZero is a global initiative bringing together forward-looking organisations to speed up the transition to a net zero steel industry. Led by international non-profit the Climate Group in partnership with ResponsibleSteel, organisations that join SteelZero make a public commitment to procure, specify or stock 100% net zero steel by 2050. By harnessing their collective purchasing power and influence, SteelZero is sending a strong demand signal to shift global markets and policies towards responsible production and sourcing of steel. #SteelZero

About Climate Group

Climate Group drives climate action. Fast. Our goal is a world of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with greater prosperity for all. We focus on systems with the highest emissions and where our networks have the greatest opportunity to drive change. We do this by building large and influential networks and holding organisations accountable, turning their commitments into action. We share what we achieve together to show more organisations what they could do. We are an international non-profit organisation, founded in 2004, with offices in London, New Delhi, and New York. We are proud to be part of the We Mean Business Coalition. Follow us on Twitter @ClimateGroup.

About SKF

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. SKF offers solutions around the rotating shaft, including bearings, seals, lubrication, condition monitoring and maintenance services. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2018 were SEK 85,713 million and the number of employees was 44,428.

At SKF we drive improvements and create economic, environmental and social value in two main ways. By the business we make with our customers – the products, services, and business models we provide. And the way we make business, running our operations and those in our supply chain as a responsible business partner, employer, and corporate citizen.

SKF products and solutions are critical in enabling the transition towards a carbon free economy. SKF is a key enabling partner to many of the mature and emerging clean-tech sectors – from Wind power to Electric Vehicles, from Tidal power to remanufacturing. SKF engineers and technicians apply solutions like uptime contracts to help customers in more traditional process industries to understand and reduce their impact. For our own operations, we have been measuring and acting on the carbon emissions for more than 20 years – achieving sustained economic growth of the business while reducing the greenhouse gas impact in real terms. Looking upstream, we work with our partners in the supply chain to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the materials (mainly steel) that we purchase.  www.skf.com