CNR ExploRA

Articolo in rivista, 2023, ENG

SDGs in the EU Steel Sector: A Critical Review of Sustainability Initiatives and Approaches

Michele Andreotti 1, Carlo Brondi 1, Davide Micillo 1* ,Ron Zevenhoven 2, Johannes Rieger 3, Ayoung Jo 4, Anne-Laure Hettinger 4, Jan Bollen 4, Enrico Malfa 5, Claudio Trevisan 5, Klaus Peters 6, Delphine Snaet 6, Andrea Ballarino 1

1 Engineering, ICT and Technologies for Energy and Transportation Department, Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing (STIIMA), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Via Alfonso Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy 2 Process and Systems Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, 20500 Turku, Finland 3 K1-MET GmbH, 4020 Linz, Austria 4 ArcelorMittal, 93210 Saint-Denis, France 5 Tenova S.p.A., 21053 Castellanza, Italy 6 European Steel Technology Platform ASBL, 1000 Brussels, Belgium *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

SDGs are playing an increasing role in defining sustainability paths for energy-intensive sectors. In particular, the steel sector is promoting several parallel initiatives as a key player sector in the European process industry. This work describes the major focal trends related to the sustainability of steel and presents the principal EU approaches and initiatives linked with the ESTEP action area. The core sustainability issues related to SDGs in the EU steel sector are presented with a particular focus on the quantification approaches. Then, the paper presents different areas for SDG implementation by single organizations in the EU context. Such areas provide an operational path for managing and implementing SDGs. In particular, the key areas include: (1) roadmapping initiatives with a focus on specific sustainability targets; (2) eco-labelling trends with reference to usage per label typology; (3) reporting initiatives by single organizations with a focus on specific SDGs; and (4) representative EU steel R&D projects related to selected sustainability targets. The discussion part focuses on a critical review of all presented areas to summarise the main paths in adopting SDGs targeted at the EU steel sector level. As the final outcome, prime emerging barriers are suggested as well as critical issues in implementing SDG-based sustainability targets.

Sustainability (Basel)