ArcelorMittal today announces that it has achieved ResponsibleSteel™ site certification in
The ResponsibleSteel audit process enables each site to prove that its production processes meet rigorously defined standards across a broad range of social, environmental and governance criteria including:
- Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions
- Water stewardship and biodiversity
- Human rights and labour rights
- Community relations and business integrity
The standard is based on 12 principles with a variety of criteria and underlying requirements. To be awarded with ResponsibleSteel certification, each site has to undergo a detailed third-party audit, with an independent Certification Committee making the final certification decision. ArcelorMittal worked with international auditor AFNOR and its German subsidiary GUTcert, both specialist companies providing certification and assessment services.
Explaining what the business has learned from the ResponsibleSteel certification process,
“In particular, the ResponsibleSteel process has helped us to improve our social management approach towards our rights holders, including our local communities, our employees, and the contractors working in our sites. While social sustainability has always been an important topic for us, ResponsibleSteel has taught us to take a more management systems-based approach to areas such as human rights, diversity and labour rights. As a result, our aim is to now manage social topics with the same systematic rigour with which quality, environment and safety topics are handled.”
He added: “Given the considerable investments we have already made to achieve a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as our broader environmental investments across our sites, I’m confident that we will achieve our goal of securing certification in each of our Flat Products sites early in 2022.”
ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products is also targeting ResponsibleSteel certification, at more of its sites during 2022.
Speaking at an event at ArcelorMittal Gent to mark the first certifications at ArcelorMittal sites,
She added: “I would like to congratulate the teams at ArcelorMittal who have supported the development and now the implementation of the ResponsibleSteel Standard at these first sites in
After the initial phase in
In 2021, ResponsibleSteel will launch a standard for the certification of steel products, which will include stringent requirements for raw materials supply chain. ArcelorMittal will continue to play an active role in developing this aspect of the programme.
Steel is the world’s most widely used material and those who use it in the transport, automotive, infrastructure, packaging, construction, energy and white goods sectors have a growing expectation that the materials they work with are responsibly sourced and produced. ResponsibleSteel, which is the world’s first’s responsible sourcing certification scheme for steel, aims to meet these expectations.
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