GSCC® Steel Climate Standard Verification

A comprehensive low-emission steel standard for all steel producers.

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What is GSCC® Steel Climate Standard Verification?

The Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC®) Steel Climate Standard uses a comprehensive system boundary to demonstrate an organization’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions in alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement 2050 1.5-degree Celsius goal. The boundary includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions from mining and/or resource extraction to the hot rolling process and allows for certification at both the product and enterprise-levels.  

GSCC® considers independent verification to be a key pillar of conformance to the standard. Suitable for all steel-producers, certification to GSCC®’s Steel Climate Standard helps provide transparency across the steel value chain, as well as a known and repeatable method to track and plan carbon emissions reduction activities.

To achieve certification, steel producers must calculate their company’s average steel emissions intensity (CASEI) and set science-based emissions targets (SBETs). The optional product certification requires additional calculations of product carbon emissions intensity. SCS Global Services provides third-party verification and validation services of these metrics to ensure conformance with the GSCC® Steel Climate Standard.

Why Choose SCS?

SCS is proud to be one of GSCC®’s first approved verifiers for the Steel Climate Standard. With our unmatched expertise in steel, SCS verifiers review your company’s calculated average steel emissions intensity and science-based targets for conformance with the Steel Climate Standard. Our responsive team will help guide you through the verification process until you reach the finish line: GSCC® Steel Climate Standard Certification.  With over 40 years in business, we boast a 90% customer return rate thanks to our consistent customer service and on-time delivery, ensuring your organization a seamless road to certification. 

  • Benefits
  • Process
  • Documents

Verification is a crucial step in the process to becoming a certified GSCC® member. Becoming a member can offer the following benefits:

•    Commit to real carbon reductions and climate goals in the steel industry 
•    Establish validated science-based emissions targets publicly, reflecting an ambition of achieving the 1.5° C scenario by the year 2050 according to the Paris Climate Accords
•    Provide a glidepath to decarbonization by 2050 for all members and steel producers
•    Participate in a technology-agnostic steel standard 
•    Improve brand recognition and corporate reputation in ethical/new consumer markets
•    Report on corporate responsibility
•    Position yourself to compete in a carbon-constrained economy

Getting Started with Your GSCC Verification:

Becoming a certified member of the GSCC® publicly signals your commitment to decarbonizing the steel industry. When working with SCS, the verification process is comprised of two steps.

First, we verify your Company Average Steel Emissions Intensity (CASEI) and then we validate your Science Backed Emission Targets (SBETs). A prospective member company would submit their GHG inventory (CASEI), prepared according to the GSCC® and its conformance standards, to SCS. The GSCC® boundary includes emissions across Scope 1, Scope 2 and the relevant Scope 3 categories, beginning with raw material extraction and ending with steelmaking and hot rolling at your facility. Per GSCC®, the CASEI is calculated as the total CO2 emissions divided by the production of hot rolled products.

Once the CASEI has been approved by SCS, we will move on to review and validate your Science Based Emissions Targets (SBETs). Under the Steel Climate Standard, the prospective member company is required to set interim and final Science Based Emissions Targets (SBETs) based on their base year CASEI and its relation to the GSCC® glidepath. SCS will review your goals, proposed carbon reduction efforts and your public documentation on planned reductions to validate the interim and final SBETs. The interim targets should be set within 7 years of the CASEI, and the final SBET is where all steel producers would meet- at 0.12 t CO2e/t hot rolled steel by 2050.

Once SCS has validated and verified the CASEI and SBETs, we provide documentation which you forward to GSCC®. The GSCC® technical committee will make the final determination. Any questions that come up during their review will be directed to SCS as the certifying body and SCS will endeavor to respond as promptly as possible.

The CASEI and adherence to SBETs will be reviewed every year by the member company and every 5 years by an external certifier such as SCS.

GSCC® includes an optional product level certification that can be performed. The product level certification requires the verification of the cradle-to-gate product life cycle emissions, including all processes identified within the GSCC® Steel Climate Standard system boundary and determined on a facility basis. Similar to the CASEI certification, the verification process requires the submission of the emissions inventory to SCS, so we can ensure that calculations of the product’s GHG intensity are based on the GSCC® standard and guidance related to product life cycle GHG accounting and reporting. SCS will provide a verification statement to the Member Company with its findings, which are then submitted to GSCC® for the technical committee’s review.

The product level certification will be reviewed every year by the member company and every 3 years by an external certifier such as SCS.

Document Name Document
The Steel Climate Standard - Supplemental Technical Guidance English
The Steel Climate Standard – Framework for Steel Products Certification and Corporate Science-Based Emissions Targets Visit Site

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