[ Sustainability ]
[ Sustainability ]
To clarify what production emissions exist and where they originate from , and in order to achieve these objectives , we have quantified the CO 2 emissions from the three accepted sources .
• Scope 1 Emissions : covering direct emissions from business-owned or business-controlled emission sources .
• Scope 2 Emissions : covering indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity , steam , heating and cooling consumed by the reporting company .
• Scope 3 Emissions : associated with the extraction , preparation and transport of ores and the subsequent production and transport of ferro-alloys , including the energy needed for these processes .
These above-described three sources allow us to provide a cradle-to-gate view of the stainless steel industry ’ s CO 2 emissions . Within the stainless steel industry , scrap has a high intrinsic value . The only limitation is the availability of scrap , especially in developing economies . Furthermore , the long usage life associated with stainless steels restricts the availability of scrap . For example , when stainless steel is used in buildings , it remains in use there for many decades without degradation . Stainless steels are 100 % recyclable and have the highest recycling rate ( 95 %) of any widely used material .
In Table 1 , we can see how the Scope 3 emissions impact the total CO 2 production emissions :
Scrap proportions
Tonnes of CO 2 / tonne of stainless steel
Scope 1 emissions 0.41 Scope 2 emissions 0.39
Scope 3 proportions
Scope 3 emissions 85 % scrap 1.15 59 %
Total CO 2 emissions ( ton CO 2 ) / ton stainless steel
Carbon steel CO 2 emissions
This feature is illustrated in Figure 1 , which shows the importance of scrap in the production flow of stainless steel . According to the KIT Stocks and Flows study ( 2022 ), 95 % of end-oflife stainless steels are collected for recycling . Of the collected end-of-life stainless steels , 74 % is directly reused to make new stainless steels and 21 % is reused to make new Carbon and Low Alloy steels . At an average global level , almost 50 % of the materials used to produce stainless
75 % scrap 1.65 67 % 50 % scrap 2.90 78 %
30 % scrap 6.00 88 %
85 % scrap 1.95
75 % scrap 2.45 50 % scrap 3.70 30 % scrap 6.80
1.89
steel are scrap materials , and other raw materials make up around 50 % of the material used to produce stainless steel .
CO 2 emissions Recent sustainability studies conducted by worldstainless ( between 2007 and 2024 ) show that emissions from the production and use of stainless steels are generally low . However , and in order to clearly quantify the CO 2 emissions during
Figure 2 : Actual CO 2 Emissions for Scrap-Based Production and Calculated CO 2 Emissions for NPI-Based Production Data source : worldstainless , 2024 Please note that the graph contains calculated figures below 40 % of recycled content .
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