ArcelorMittal has joined the Institut Bauen und Umwelt (IBU - the Institute of Construction and the Environment), gaining worldwide recognition of the sustainability credentials of its steel products for the construction industry.
Based in Germany, IBU specialises in the sustainability labelling of construction products and materials and is one of the most renowned Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) programme operators. It holds international recognition for its reviewers' expertise and providing mutual recognition with a large number of other labelling schemes and operators.
EPD requirements are on the rise, providing an important life cycle assesment of a product and detailed information on its potential impact on the environment.
"In order to provide a comprehensive sustainability assessment for a construction project, transparency is important, which means having all the relevant data. this is what EPDs offer," explained Anne-Laure Hettinger, head of global R&D sustainability department.
ArcelorMittal has already received EPDs for its steel reinforced bars, with work underway for its sheet piles. "The company is already planning to create further EPDs for structural beams, road safety barriers and coated coils," commented Roberto Turconi, ArcelorMittal sustainability engineer responsible for construction.
