Hyundai Steel Wins First Steelie Award

Hyundai Steel President Lee Bo-ryong (left) receives the top company award in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) category of the Steelie Awards from World Steel Association Vice Chairman Thachat Wiswanath Narendran at the World Steel Association (worldsteel) annual event held in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 12 local time. (Provided by Hyundai Steel)  Hyundai Steel received its first honor at a major global steel industry awards event, with its capabilities in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) recognized. At the World Steel Association annual event held in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 12 local time, Hyundai Steel was named the top company in the LCA category of the Steelie Awards in recognition of its achievement in “standardizing LCA calculation guidelines to improve comparability among steel products.” The Steelie Awards are presented annually by the World Steel Association to member companies that have contributed to the development of the steel industry. The awards consist of six categories: excellence in low-carbon steel production, innovation of the year, sustainability champion, life cycle assessment, excellence in education and training, and communications excellence. The LCA category won by Hyundai Steel is awarded to companies that have delivered achievements in environmental impact assessment during product development or process improvement. To improve the comparability of carbon emissions from steel products, Hyundai Steel proposed a “calculation method that minimizes deviations in the environmental impact of by-product gases.” By-product gases generated during the steel manufacturing process have the characteristic that environmental impact assessment results can vary depending on the calculation standards or business structure. Hyundai Steel focused on reducing this variability to secure objectivity in evaluation. For this, the company has been conducting joint research with Inha University for three years starting in 2023 and carried out simulations for more than 24 scenarios. By precisely calculating the environmental impact and carbon emissions from by-product gas combustion under each scenario, it derived the optimal application method. The research results were also used to obtain overseas Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certification for products produced through the blast furnace process, demonstrating their practical applicability. The award is significant in that it officially recognizes Hyundai Steel’s capabilities in LCA calculation and management amid competition with global steelmakers. As the importance of LCA, which quantifies environmental impacts across the entire process from raw material extraction to production, distribution, and disposal, continues to grow, the standardized guidelines presented by Hyundai Steel were evaluated as having contributed to improving reliability across the industry. A Hyundai Steel official said efforts to secure reliability in environmental impact assessment for steel products were well received by the global industry and added that, based on this achievement, the company would continue efforts to provide the market with reliable environmental information in the future.