Global steelmakers increased their material efficiency in 2019, according to the World Steel Association’s (worldsteel’s) 2020 Sustainability Indicators report.
The report, which measures the global steel industry’s performance using eight key sustainability indicators, noted that the percentage of waste raw materials that were converted to products and by-products by steelmakers in their quest towards zero waste increased last year. According to worldsteel, 97.49pc of materials were converted to products and by-products in 2019 compared with 96.33pc in the previous year.
The energy intensity for every metric tonne of crude steel produced last year remained at 19.84GJ/mt almost the same as 2018, though CO2 emissions rose slightly to 1.83mt/tonne of steel cast from 1.81mt during the same period under comparison.
On the other hand, steel companies are increasing their investments in new processes to ensure the production of sustainable steel. The report indicated that in 2019, steelmakers, on average, invested 7.07pc of their revenue in improving their processes, up from 6.10pc in 2018.
Worldsteel analyzed data provided by 104 steel companies from around the world, which collectively represented an output of 1.1bn mt of steel to create its 2020 steel sustainability report.