voestalpine receives certificate for sustainable steel production
Taking responsibility for society and the environment is an integral part of the corporate culture at voestalpine. The Steel Division in Linz was one of the first steel companies in the world to be officially certified as a sustainable production site by the non-profit organization ResponsibleSteel. Compliance with a total of 200 different criteria was a prerequisite for the award, including responsible raw material procurement, CO2 emission reduction and meeting the company responsibilities of employee and human rights.
voestalpine continuously implements sustainability measures throughout the Group and is considered a benchmark in the industry, particularly with regard to environmental protection. “Corporate responsibility has an important place in our corporate strategy. We have been meeting our ecological and social responsibilities for many years. Our greentec steel represents an ambitious step-by-step plan to reduce CO2 emissions in steelmaking," says Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG. A hybrid technology involving the electric arc furnace will reduce CO2 emissions by around 30% by the year 2030. The use of green hydrogen in steel production will be successively increased in the long term in order to be able to produce steel in a carbon-neutral fashion by the year 2050.
ResponsibleSteel is the first global sustainability certification initiative in the steel industry. In order to be awarded a certificate, the production site was audited in great detail by LRQA, an independent certification company. An independent committee made the final decision. “Today’s certification provides ample proof that voestalpine complies with each of the strictly defined sustainability standards. This sends an important signal to our customers, who attach ever increasing importance to supplier sustainability," says Hubert Zajicek, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the Steel Division.
Please find additional information about ResponsibleSteel here.