The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has released its Sustainability Indicators 2025 Report, marking a significant expansion in how the global steel industry measures and reports its sustainability performance.
The most notable development in this year’s report is the substantial increase in sustainability metrics, with the number of indicators growing from eight to nineteen. This expansion reflects the industry’s commitment to more comprehensive transparency across environmental, social, economic, and governance performance areas.
Enhanced Emissions Monitoring
For the first time since the program began in 2004, worldsteel’s industry and route-level emissions intensity indicators now extend beyond carbon dioxide to include methane and nitrous oxide. This provides a more complete picture of the steel industry’s greenhouse gas footprint through comprehensive CO₂-equivalent measurements.
Significantly, the report also incorporates emissions from upstream mining activities, specifically methane releases from metallurgical coal mining operations. This addition captures the broader lifecycle impact of steel production and reflects companies’ sourcing decisions.
About the World Steel Association
Worldsteel serves as the international organization representing the global steel industry, bringing together steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. The association works to advance the steel industry’s contribution to sustainable development while addressing the sector’s environmental challenges.
The steel industry accounts for approximately seven to eight percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, making emissions reduction a critical priority. Steel production remains both energy- and carbon-intensive, requiring fundamental transformation to achieve substantial emissions reductions.
Report Participation
The 2025 report drew participation from 93 steel companies and associations worldwide, representing approximately 51 percent of global crude steel production. The expanded framework covers indicators spanning from greenhouse gas and air emissions to workforce diversity, community investment, supply chain assessment, and business ethics education.
Purpose and Significance
The Sustainability Indicators Report serves as the steel industry’s primary tool for measuring, tracking, and publicly reporting progress on key sustainability metrics. By substantially broadening the scope of measurement, the 2025 edition enables stakeholders—including investors, policymakers, customers, and communities—to better understand the industry’s performance and progress toward sustainability goals.
The report aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement, connecting industry performance to broader global sustainability frameworks.
The full Sustainability Indicators 2025 Report is available on worldsteel’s website, providing detailed data, methodology, and analysis across all nineteen indicators.
Find the full report here.
