Steelmakers taking a hard look at climate change

Dec 01, 2007 | 12:39 PM |

Global steel producers are beginning to warm to the challenges presented by climate change.

The topic of climate change—or global warming to those looking to pick a fight—received considerable attention at the annual meetings of the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Metals Service Center Institute. It gained even more steam, and some action, at the annual meeting of the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) in Berlin in October.

All three organizations as well as many others—including the Steel Manufacturers Association, the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, the Canadian Steel Producers Association, the Mexican Steel Producers Association and the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute—have raised climate change to a priority challenge for 2008 and beyond.

Members of the six American steel associations met in Miami in October to discuss trade and policy issues and establish an agreement to cooperate in the future on climate change issues. "We support the development of a global sectoral approach to climate change in which all major steel-producing countries, including China and India, contribute to a global solution to the climate change challenge," the organizations said. They also agreed to meet at least once per year to review progress being made on climate change and trade issues.....