Third World Steel Association Sustainability Report 2008 published

Third World Steel Association Sustainability Report 2008 published   Washington DC, 7 October 2008 – A new report released today by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) outlines the challenges faced by the industry, reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development and presents the industry's progress.    The 2008 Sustainability Report is based on a survey of 500 stakeholders located in Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Asia and Africa. The report captures indicator data from 38 companies and two regional associations in 2006, representing 520 million metric tons of steel, or 42% of world production, and US$ 410.3 billion in annual revenues. Speaking at the steel industry annual conference, Director General Ian Christmas said "We are faced with a broad range of sustainable development challenges and it is our responsibility to help meet the growing demand for steel in a sustainable way.   This report underlines the actions that we, individually and together as an industry, are taking to address these challenges". The industry's three key sustainable development priorities are:   ·        Safety and Health: the safety and health of the people who work in our industry is our top priority. All injuries and work-related illness can and must be prevented. ·        Climate Change: CO2 emissions from the steel industry will inevitably increase with projected increased volume of steel production in the future. To address the challenge of CO2 emission reduction we are developing an intensity-based global steel sector approach.     ·        Adding Value: the recyclability of steel is one of its most valuable properties. We are shifting our focus from increasing the volume of steel in use to maximising the contribution of steel over product life cycles.    "Sustainable development is aimed at improving the quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come.  For the world steel industry it means valuing the interdependence of environmental, social and economic aspects in all decision-making" concluded Ian Christmas, Director General.