Hyundai Steel (004020) has won its first Steelie Award, taking the top honor in the life cycle assessment category at the awards organized by the World Steel Association.
The company said on the 15th that it was selected as the top performer for submitting work on standardizing LCA calculation guidelines to improve comparability between steel products. The announcement came at the association's annual event held in New Delhi, India, on the 12th. It is the company's first Steelie Award.
The Steelie Awards are the global steel industry's flagship awards program, in which the World Steel Association each year recognizes outstanding cases from member companies that have contributed to the industry's development. Prizes are given in six categories, including clean steel production, process and product innovation, sustainability management, LCA, talent development and communications programs.
The LCA category recognizes achievements in standardizing calculation methods or in applying LCA to product development, process improvement and policy. Hyundai Steel drew high marks for proposing a calculation method that minimizes variation in the environmental impact of byproduct gas, aimed at improving the comparability of carbon emissions across steel products.
The company focused on the importance of calculation standards that can reflect comparability in the carbon emissions of steel products. In particular, it sought a solution to the problem that assessment results for the environmental impact of byproduct gas differ depending on the calculation standard and the business structure.
To that end, Hyundai Steel conducted joint research with Inha University for three years beginning in 2023. Using more than 24 scenarios, the research calculated the environmental impact and carbon emissions from the combustion of byproduct gas and produced measures to narrow the variation in assessment results.
The research was also used to obtain overseas Environmental Product Declaration certification for products made in blast furnaces. An EPD is a system that quantifies and discloses the environmental impact generated across a product's entire life cycle, from raw material extraction through production, distribution, use and disposal.
"The global steel industry gave us good marks for contributing to securing the credibility of environmental impact assessments for steel products," an official at Hyundai Steel said. "We will continue to work to provide reliable information."