Jang In-hwa, POSCO Chairman, Appointed as Executive Committee Member of World Steel Association

Emphasizing Global Cooperation for Low-Carbon Transition in Steel Industry

POSCO won awards in three categories, including technological innovation, at the Steelie Awards ceremony held by the World Steel Association on the 14th (local time). From the left in the photo, Jang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Group, and Johannpeter, Vice Chairman of Brazil's Gerdau, are taking a commemorative photo after receiving the awards. Photo by POSCO Holdings

Jang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Group, was appointed as a new executive member at the World Steel Association (worldsteel) regular meeting held in Brussels, Belgium.

According to POSCO on the 16th, Chairman Jang shared the latest global steel industry issues and association activities, including the joint R&D program for hydrogen reduction steelmaking and the CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) project, with global steel CEOs at the worldsteel executive committee meeting on the 13th (local time), and engaged in in-depth discussions on future development directions.

The World Steel Association is a representative organization of the steel industry aimed at understanding and promoting the interests of the steel sector. It actively involves 155 members worldwide, including global steel companies, regional steel associations, and research institutions.

On this day, Chairman Jang emphasized, "There are various ways to achieve carbon neutrality in the steel industry, but to accelerate carbon neutrality, it is necessary to reach an agreement on low-carbon steel manufacturing methods in a fair and transparent manner," and urged for a more accelerated implementation of the global standardization of carbon emission measurement methods led by the association.

Subsequently, Chairman Jang attended the worldsteel general assembly on the 14th to share low-carbon innovative technologies and sustainable growth plans for the steel industry, and was appointed as a new executive member at the member meeting held on the 15th.

Going forward, Chairman Jang will serve as an executive member deciding on the operational policies and directions of the World Steel Association, including low-carbon technology and product development, environment, and safety, with a term of three years.

POSCO also achieved a remarkable feat by winning the highest awards in three out of six categories at the World Steel Association Steelie Awards: Technology Innovation, Communication, and Education & Training. This is the first time POSCO has swept three categories simultaneously at the Steelie Awards.

The 'PosZET® technology,' selected in the Technology Innovation category, is an economical and eco-friendly automotive steel sheet solution technology that improves the weld quality of automotive parts using gigasteel. It can omit additional post-processing steps, resulting in carbon reduction effects. Notably, this technology was also published in the prestigious academic journal Nature Communications in February this year.

Gigasteel is an ultra-high-strength lightweight steel sheet with a tensile strength of over 1 gigapascal (GPa), capable of withstanding loads exceeding 100 kg per 1㎟ area, offering excellent durability and safety.

The 'Fantasteel' (a portmanteau of Fantasy and Steel), which won the highest award in the Communication category, is an advertising campaign created by POSCO to express the vision of creating a "better world" dreamed of by future generations through steel. It was highly praised for its outstanding message delivery and originality by depicting the narrative of steel through 3D animation reminiscent of games.

Lastly, the 'QSS (Quality Safety Stability) training program for internalizing employees' innovation mindset,' which won in the Education & Training category, was highly evaluated for being a customized training program tailored to different levels such as new employees, improvement leaders, facilitators, and managers. QSS is POSCO's unique working method where production site employees take the initiative to implement improvements and enhance production efficiency, and POSCO has been continuously conducting QSS activities for over 20 years.

Meanwhile, POSCO has been ranked first for 14 consecutive years as the "most competitive steel company in the world" by the global steel analysis institution WSD (World Steel Dynamics), and in April this year, it was recognized for its efforts to transition to a low-carbon production system and was selected as a Sustainability Champion by the World Steel Association for three consecutive years.