Building confidence in the future of steel

One of the things I’ve noticed over the past few years is how quickly the term green steel has entered everyday language.

It’s appearing in policy discussions, industry forums and media reporting. It’s becoming part of the way people talk about the future of steel.

Yet for all its growing use, there is still no universally accepted definition of what green steel actually means. This is exactly where industries find themselves during periods of real transformation.

New technologies emerge. New ideas take hold. Language evolves. Eventually, however, the language needs to catch up with the ambition.

Because words don’t just describe markets. They shape them.

That’s the position InfraBuild is in. We’re Australia’s only circular steelmaker, running the country’s only two electric arc furnaces. We don’t just want to keep pace with where the language is heading, we want to bring an evidence-based approach to the table.

Why this matters

At InfraBuild, our Sustainable Future Strategy is built on a simple idea: creating more value for our customers. That starts with helping them make better decisions.

We do that by combining smarter steel solutions, engineering expertise and trusted, verified information that gives customers confidence to make informed decisions.

Better decisions lead to better project outcomes through greater productivity, lower embodied carbon and lower cost. That’s what creating value looks like.

Customers are asking different questions today than they were five years ago.

They still expect quality, performance and reliability. Increasingly, they’re also asking about embodied carbon. More importantly, they’re asking a question that sits behind it.

How do I know I can trust the information? That’s a fair question.

And I think it’s one of the most important questions facing our industry.

Confidence doesn’t come from bigger sustainability claims. It comes from clear language, transparent data and evidence that can be independently verified. That’s why Environmental Product Declarations have become so important. They allow customers to compare products on a like-for-like basis, giving them confidence that they’re comparing apples with apples.

Our Environmental Product Declarations are known across the industry for their transparent and comprehensive environmental performance reporting. They also meet the requirements of key ratings tools, including GBCA’s Green Star and ISC’s ISv2.1.

That’s good for customers. It’s good for industry. And ultimately, it’s good for progress.

Words matter when it comes to the term green steel

The way InfraBuild thinks about green steel isn’t about the technology. It’s about measurable, verifiable outcomes.

We measure the carbon impact of our steel using a metric called Global Warming Potential (GWP). GWP is a way of putting a value on the embodied carbon of a particular product. Embodied carbon is the greenhouse gas emissions created by the total manufacture and transportation of our products from the earliest stage (e.g. collecting and preparing scrap steel) throughout its life cycle up until we sell it to our customers. This is sometimes known as cradle-to-gate.

Our SENSE 600® reinforcing steel currently has a verified Global Warming Potential of approximately 0.790 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per tonne of steel.  When the full 16.7% mass savings that SENSE 600® offers in certain structural applications is realised, the comparative GWP to our 500N reinforcing bar is 0.658.  This is 81% less emissions-intensive than the NABERS Default benchmark, and 59% below the NABERS Average for reinforcing steel (2026.v2). We’re proud of the progress we’ve made. We’re even more focused on the progress still to come.

We have an ambition to reduce these numbers even further, supported by recognised lifecycle assessments and independently verified Environmental Product Declarations.

So, the question becomes, what defines green steel? That’s what government, policy and industry are yet to determine. Without a clear globally accepted definition of what “green steel” actually means, or how to measure it, it presents both challenges and opportunities for steelmakers with climate ambitions.

We’re committed to engaging in these discussions with industry and government and evolving our approach as global standards are set.

Today, InfraBuild makes the lowest embodied carbon steel of any domestic manufacturer in Australia.

Our ambition is to reduce embodied carbon even lower, through continued investment in renewable energy, manufacturing innovation and process improvements.

Progress should never be judged by ambition alone. It should be judged by what can be measured. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to.

Looking ahead

I don’t expect the industry to settle on one definition overnight. Nor do I think it should.

Good ideas become stronger through discussion. But I do think we owe customers something. Clarity.

If we’re going to ask them to make decisions that influence the future of construction, they should have confidence in the language we use and the data that sits behind it.

That’s why, at InfraBuild, we’ll continue talking about lower embodied carbon steel today.

Helping customers make better decisions has always been part of our strategy.

Providing trusted information is becoming an increasingly important part of how we do it.

Stay safe,

Francisco Irazusta
CEO and Executive Director, InfraBuild