ResponsibleSteel™ driving decarbonisation and holistic sustainability outcomes

BlueScope takes pride in being a founding member of ResponsibleSteel™, a global, independent, rigorous standard and certification program for the steel industry.

Our Port Kembla Steelworks (PKSW) in Australia received ResponsibleSteel™ core site certification in early 2022, becoming the first site in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the first steelmakers globally to achieve this recognition. This was followed by our Western Port site in Victoria, which achieved certification in October 2023. These certifications demonstrate independently verified performance across key sustainability criteria, and the positive way we seek to engage with our stakeholders, particularly our customers, suppliers, employees and communities. With these certifications, BlueScope demonstrates its commitment to advancing sustainability across the steel value chain.

The ResponsibleSteel™ Standard is:

Credible: Technology agnostic, geographically neutral, transparent, and collaborative.
Comprehensive: Based on 13 governance, social, and environmental principles, including greenhouse gas emissions, responsible sourcing, labour rights, human rights, waste, water stewardship, and biodiversity, among others.
Effective: Encourages ambitious sector-wide changes to advance the steel industry transition through certification requirements, assurance and continuous improvement expectations.

ResponsibleSteel™ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

ResponsibleSteel™ certification demonstrates that organisations like BlueScope are committed to climate action, including setting emissions reduction targets and implementing verified plans to manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
ResponsibleSteel™ recognises that steel scrap is a limited resource – with global demand far outstripping supply – and that availability varies across geographical regions.
ResponsibleSteel™ supports a dual decarbonisation approach, which involves both iron-ore based production and increasing steel recycling. These pathways must operate in parallel to achieve the deep emissions reductions required to decarbonise global steelmaking by 2050 – recognising that focusing on recycling alone will be insufficient.

“Specifying steel based only on its carbon footprint is… a highly ineffective mechanism for driving reductions in overall GHG emissions.”¹ ResponsibleSteel / LESS.

Learn more about recycled content, embodied carbon and steel decarbonisation.

Rating tools recognition

ResponsibleSteel™ is supported by key industry bodies including the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) and the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), and certification is recognised under sustainability rating frameworks such as Green Star.