POSCO Hosts Forum to Reexamine the Meaning of Eco-Friendly Steelmaking

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] On the 6th, POSCO held the '1st Sustainable Future Forum' in collaboration with Korea University. This forum was organized to seek solutions for reducing the total carbon emissions in material industries such as nuclear power generation and steel.

The event held at Korea University was attended by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Park Gilsung, professor of sociology at Korea University and member of the 'Cooperative Network for a Sustainable Future (CONET)', Lee Junho, head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University, and Joo Hankyu, professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University. Discussion panelists included Lee Jaehyuk, director of the ESG Research Center at Korea University Business School, former UN Climate Ambassador Choi Jaecheol, Jung Eunmi, head of the Growth Engine Industry Research Division at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, and Shin Hojung, director of Planning and Evaluation Coordination at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

In his keynote speech, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized, "To achieve a sustainable future, it is essential to rapidly realize a low-carbon society, and social consensus and proactive international cooperation are indispensable to support this."

Professors Joo Hankyu of Seoul National University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Lee Junho of Korea University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering presented their views on achieving carbon neutrality in the energy and materials industry sectors through thematic lectures.

In particular, Professor Lee Junho delivered a lecture titled "Discovering New Value of Steel Products for Carbon Neutrality," introducing POSCO’s industry-leading practices such as ▲ proactively establishing directions for classifying low-carbon and eco-friendly steel products ▲ analyzing the social carbon reduction contributions of low-carbon and eco-friendly steel products.

During the subsequent discussion, participants shared the need for a shift in perception and consensus-building to view carbon reduction contributions based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of steel products, and discussed mid- to long-term implementation plans for public-private-academic cooperation to reach social consensus.

Um Ki-cheon, head of POSCO’s Marketing Strategy Office, said, "This forum provided an opportunity to consider eco-friendliness not only from the production process but also from the customer usage perspective when defining eco-friendly steel products." He added, "POSCO will continue to systematize the concept of eco-friendly steel products while simultaneously quantifying the social carbon reduction amounts for each product."

Since launching the premium eco-friendly construction material brand 'INNOVILT' in 2019, POSCO has been leading the development of eco-friendly steel products through its 'three strategic brands,' including last year’s integrated eco-friendly vehicle brand 'e Autopos' and the eco-friendly energy material brand 'Greenable.'

Furthermore, POSCO plans to strengthen its responsiveness to market and customer demands for low-carbon products by investing in electric arc furnaces, developing low-carbon operation technologies, and commercializing the hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology HyREX.