Tata Steel continues its commitment to globally responsible steel production

On September 24, Tata Steel announced its collaboration with ResponsibleSteel™, a non-profit organization that promotes uniform sustainability standards in the steel industry worldwide. The goal is to increase customer and end-user confidence and provide even greater assurance of Tata Steel's commitment as a steel producer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs and protecting communities.

All of Tata Steel's steel plants in 26 countries have joined Responsible Steel to enforce the first global sustainability standard and a uniform certification program for the industry. Tata Steel is one of the world's largest members in the steel sector.

With this step, Tata Steel once again underscores its commitment to act responsibly in all areas of its business: from caring for its employees and dealing with the environmental impact of its steel production, to involvement in local communities and the greening of its supply chain. Through its early membership, Tata Steel will actively support the further development of the ResponsibleSteel standards, which will serve as a beacon for future action within the industry.

"We are proud to be part of this pioneering project as Tata Steel. For our customers, this membership means even greater confidence in our products and the assurance that we are committed to acting responsibly," says Henrik Adam, CEO, Tata Steel Europe. "We take this responsibility very seriously, as it is increasingly what our customers and end users rightly expect. The ResponsibleSteel initiative gives us another opportunity to achieve our mission to become the leading European steel company that is sustainable in every respect.

Tata Steel says it believes that global sustainable development goals can best be achieved through leadership, transparency and collaboration across the entire value chain. ResponsibleSteel's multi-stakeholder platform, which includes members from the entire value chain, is ideally positioned for such collaboration. Membership of ResponsibleSteel builds on Tata Steel's international responsible procurement policy. The cornerstone for this is BES6001 certification, which already covers our entire product portfolio for the automotive industry," Adam continued.

"The automotive supply industry supply chain includes some of the largest and most valuable global brands. Society expects us to take a leadership role in terms of sustainability and responsibility for this supply chain. Our membership in ResponsibleSteel demonstrates that Tata Steel not only has mastered the issues of leadership and commitment, but that we are also able to work in partnership with many other strong stakeholders to achieve great things together, which will pay off in terms of real global change," adds Sander Heinhuis, Head of Automotive Marketing at Tata Steel Europe.

"We are very pleased to welcome Tata Steel as a business member of ResponsibleSteel. As one of the world's leading steel producers, Tata Steel brings tremendous expertise, forward-looking ideas and approaches, as well as great influence within the industry to help us achieve our mission and goals," said Ali Lucas, Executive Director, ResponsibleSteel.

"ResponsibleSteel operates in the world's largest materials industry, responsible for more than seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and covers companies at every stage of the steel supply chain. Companies from multinational mining organizations, global steel producers, processors and end users, as well as representatives from society, work closely with us to drive forward solutions for responsible, future-oriented steel production. As the world's only multi-stakeholder initiative for standards and certification in the steel sector, we work in partnership to develop solutions that deliver real benefits to both our planet and society. We know that the time is running out to find solutions to the global environmental crisis. Working with Tata Steel will help us to significantly accelerate our vision of a world where only responsible steel with low CO2 emissions is produced," Ali Lucas continued.

Source: Tata Steel, Photo: Fotolia