How to find it, buy it and use it.

What is meant when we talk about sustainable steel? Are we talking about a responsibly sourced product, where the impact of the steel manufacture on the social and economical environment is considered, or are we talking about steels with low embodied carbon – i.e., manufactured with lower emissions and, hence, with a lower global warming potential?

In fact, it’s both – a responsibly sourced product that has low embodied carbon.

The demand for sustainable construction materials has been steadily rising, with many local and federal governments introducing decarbonisation initiatives, environmental impact goals, and carbon reporting. Steel has been identified as a contributor to embodied carbon in the built environment and, as a result, is in focus. But importantly, when considering the sustainable attributes of a product, the life cycle of steel as a durable, recyclable material providing resilience should not be overlooked.

Buyer demand

Many developers today see sustainability as a key consideration, and have internal commitments along with project carbon-reduction targets. These trends are further driven by other factors, including:

• asset owners with environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting mandates, internal carbon reduction targets, and social procurement targets
• mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requirements
• third-party certification (e.g., Green Star and ISC).

The industry is moving towards mandating that all products, including steel, have an Environmental Product Declaration produced in accordance with international standards by the manufacturer. But there is also a significant push for third‑party verification of sustainability claims to ensure products are being fairly compared. Without these credentials, products – and the projects they are being used in – may face downgrading in environmental assessments.

Sourcing sustainable steel

Unfortunately, with the rise in demand for sustainable products has come an increase in ‘greenwashing’ – claims of ESG standards without proof or accuracy.

Another challenge is establishing which product is actually ‘the most sustainable’ choice. This is complex thanks to the variety of methods used to measure ‘sustainability’, and the fact that many products are self-assessed.

Then there is the matter of traceability: the ESG credentials are based on a product being produced through a particular process, and the receiver has to be sure there has been no substitution of product – that the construction steels you ordered are what you received.

So, project stakeholders are now seeking ways to measure and verify products’ ESG credentials, resulting in soaring demand for a premium, independent verification scheme.

Verifying sustainable steel

There is wide variation in the criteria assessed by individual sustainable certification schemes. So, when comparing them, it is crucial to consider what is actually being assessed, how it is being validated, and how that can be used for project reporting.

Not all certification schemes have the same level of rigour. While carbon emissions are important, the assessment must go beyond embodied carbon. Steel should be assessed against its impact on all of the supply chain, including human rights and labour conditions. A good scheme should consider ethical business practices, modern slavery, fair supplier treatment and the socio-economic impacts of the value chain, as well as the expected environmental impacts.

It’s essential that sustainability certification analyses the full life cycle of a product. Product producers’ environmental impact may be quantified through a life cycle assessment, quantifying the kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne (i.e., the global warming potential (GWP)).

If serious about carbon emissions, the carbon footprint through the whole downstream process from the mill to the site should be determined. This is something asked for in the industry today: major developers have said that when a product is delivered to their side gate, they want it to arrive with an accurate GWP. Consequently, it is critical to have consistent methods of calculation that are independently verified to provide confidence to the market.

It is also worth noting that companies often pursue certification to management standards like ISO 14001:2016 Environmental Management. While this should be encouraged, these schemes focus on documented systems and management rather than actual product output. When used on their own, ISO 14001–based schemes are increasingly considered not to provide adequate verification of supplier claims of sustainability.

ACRS SCS Scheme

In 2021, the Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels (ACRS) introduced its Sustainable Constructional Steel (SCS) Certification Scheme to enable consumers, industry and government to confidently source high-quality constructional steels produced under high ESG standards, and to combat ESG confusion through the steel supply chain.

The scheme ensures that construction steel entering New Zealand and Australia meets the United Nations guidelines on global environmental, social and ethical standards, by using independent certification of ESG criteria and performance indicators. The scheme is recognised internationally and has obtained ‘Best Practice’ under the Green Building Council of Australia Responsible Product scheme.

ACRS sees increasing demand for the SCS as designers, builders, and others seek credible ways to demonstrate compliance with sustainability frameworks, reduce project risk, and meet growing regulatory and investor expectations.

The SCS scheme provides the industry with a uniform and benchmarked approach to demonstrating a commitment to sustainable principles. ESG data is provided in an independently certified manner – and via a uniform approach, rather than different criteria. Having an internationally recognised and independently certified scheme for the assessment of steel means that sustainability data can be seamlessly passed forward in the value chain – providing significant efficiencies in gathering verifiable SGS data for projects.

ACRS has launched ACRS Cloud to enable digital traceability of steel products, allowing for better transparency through the supply chain journey to confirm compliance. This traceability is also essential for verifying sustainability credentials. ACRS Cloud is capable of providing traceability down to the batch level. Steel users can check steel’s sustainability certification in the secure environment of the ACRS Cloud app, just by scanning product QR codes.

The SCS scheme provides everyone – from procurer to the public – with confidence that the steel installed in their homes, high-rise commercial and residential buildings, and infrastructure projects meets the highest global standards in terms of both quality and sustainability.