SC 21 - ISO/TC 17/SC 21

This document specifies guidelines and requirements for conducting life cycle inventory (LCI) studies of steel products reflecting steel’s capacity for closed-loop recycling, including: specification of the declared unit used for LCI calculation of steel products; definition of the system boundaries used for LCI calculation of steel products; evaluation of scrap in LCI calculation of steel products; evaluation of co-products in LCI calculation of steel products; reporting of LCI calculation results of steel products. The application of LCI results, including life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), is outside the scope of this document.

This document provides an overview of low-carbon technologies for the entire production process of the iron and steel industry, sets application in sintering, pelletizing, coking, ironmaking, steelmaking, continuous casting, rolling and other production processes. NOTE Low-carbon technologies in the iron and steel industry are constantly evolving. This document describes processes in different stages of maturity. There is heterogeneity in the decarbonization pathways among the steel enterprises. Therefore, not all low-carbon technologies covered in this document are equally applicable to all steel plants. Low-carbon technologies in the iron and steel industry are not limited to those listed in this document. This document will be revised as appropriate as technologies evolve.

This document specifies calculation methods for the total annual carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity of the plant where steel is produced through a blast furnace. NOTE The steel plant is generally called “the integrated steel plant”. It includes boundary definition, material and energy flow definition and emission factor of CO2. Besides direct source import to the boundary, upstream and credit concept is applied to exhibit the plant CO2 intensity. This document supports steel producers to establish CO2 emissions attributable to a site. Conversion to energy consumption and to consumption efficiency can be obtained using Annex A.

This document specifies calculation methods to evaluate the total annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the emission factor of CO2 per unit of steel production of the entire steel production process. This document applies to plants that produce mainly carbon steel. It can be used by companies using EAF to manufacture steel. It includes boundary definition, material and energy flow definition, and emission factor of CO2. Besides direct source import to the boundary, upstream and credit concept is applied to exhibit the plant CO2 intensity. This document supports steel producers to establish CO2 emissions attributable to a site. Conversion to energy consumption and to consumption efficiency can be obtained using Annex A.