SASB Iron & Steel Producers

1. Download the Standard: Access the SASB Iron & Steel Producers standard (EM-IS) for free at sasb.org. Review the full standard document, including the industry description, disclosure topics, and accounting metrics.

1. Identify Material Topics: Map the standard's six disclosure topics — GHG Emissions, Air Quality, Energy Management, Water Management, Waste & Hazardous Materials, and Employee Health & Safety — against your company's operations to confirm relevance and materiality.

1. Conduct a Data Gap Analysis: Compare the required quantitative metrics (e.g., Scope 1 GHG emissions in metric tons CO₂-e, total energy consumed in GJ, water withdrawn in thousands of cubic meters) against your existing data collection systems to identify gaps.

1. Build or Upgrade Data Collection Systems: Work with operations, EHS, and finance teams to establish reliable data pipelines for each required metric. Ensure data is tracked at the appropriate unit of measure and boundary (e.g., operational control vs. equity share).

1. Draft Disclosures: Prepare quantitative disclosures and qualitative narrative responses for each accounting metric. Reference the standard's technical protocols for definitions, scope, and calculation methodologies.

1. Consider Third-Party Assurance: While not required by SASB, engaging an independent auditor to provide limited or reasonable assurance over your disclosures significantly increases credibility with investors and ESG rating agencies.

1. Publish in Your Sustainability or Annual Report: Integrate SASB-aligned disclosures into your annual sustainability report, integrated report, or SEC filing. Use the SASB Standards Index format to clearly signal alignment.

1. Monitor for Standard Updates: Track updates from the IFRS Foundation/ISSB, which now maintains SASB standards, and update your disclosures accordingly each reporting cycle.

The SASB Iron & Steel Producers standard (industry code EM-IS) defines six disclosure topics with associated quantitative accounting metrics and qualitative discussion requirements. These topics were identified through a rigorous materiality assessment as the ESG issues most likely to affect the financial condition or operating performance of companies in this sector.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Companies disclose Scope 1 GHG emissions (in metric tons CO₂-e), the percentage covered by emissions-limiting regulations, and the percentage covered by emissions-reporting regulations. Discussion of long-term and short-term strategy or plan to manage Scope 1 emissions and related risks is also required.

Air Quality: Disclosures cover air emissions of NOx (excluding N₂O), SOx, and particulate matter (PM10), all reported in metric tons. These pollutants are particularly significant in iron and steel production due to sintering, coking, and blast furnace operations.

Energy Management: Companies report total energy consumed (in GJ), the percentage of grid electricity used, and the percentage of renewable energy used. This reflects the sector's extremely high energy intensity and the financial and reputational risks associated with energy costs and carbon pricing.

Water Management: Metrics include total water withdrawn (in thousands of cubic meters), total water consumed, and the percentage of each in regions with High or Extremely High Baseline Water Stress. This topic is material given the large volumes of water used in steelmaking and cooling processes.

Waste & Hazardous Materials Management: Companies disclose the total weight of hazardous waste generated and the percentage recycled, along with total weight of waste generated and percentage recycled. Steel slag, dust, and sludge are among the key waste streams addressed.

Employee Health & Safety: Metrics include the total recordable incident rate (TRIR), fatality rate, and near-miss frequency rate. The iron and steel industry has historically elevated occupational safety risks, making this a financially material topic for insurance costs, regulatory exposure, and workforce productivity.

The SASB standards have become one of the most widely referenced ESG disclosure frameworks among institutional investors globally. As of the early 2020s, thousands of companies across 77 industries had adopted SASB standards, with adoption concentrated among large-cap publicly listed companies in North America, Europe, and increasingly Asia-Pacific. The Iron & Steel Producers standard is among the more actively used sector-specific standards given the industry's high environmental footprint and intense investor scrutiny around decarbonization pathways.

The 2022 merger of SASB into the IFRS Foundation and the subsequent creation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) significantly elevated SASB's global standing. The ISSB's inaugural standards — IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 — explicitly reference SASB industry-specific metrics as the basis for industry-specific disclosure guidance, effectively embedding SASB into an emerging global baseline for sustainability reporting. This has accelerated adoption in jurisdictions where IFRS is already the financial reporting standard, including the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

In the metals and mining sector, SASB competes primarily with GRI Standards (which take a broader stakeholder-impact approach), CDP's climate and water questionnaires, and sector-specific frameworks like ResponsibleSteel. Many large steel producers use multiple frameworks simultaneously, with SASB typically serving the investor-facing, financially material disclosure layer. The trend toward mandatory sustainability disclosure — driven by the EU's CSRD, the SEC's climate disclosure rules, and ISSB adoption by national regulators — is increasing demand for SASB-aligned reporting, though it also means SASB metrics are increasingly being absorbed into broader regulatory compliance exercises rather than adopted as standalone voluntary commitments.

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) was founded in 2011 by Jean Rogers in San Francisco, with a mission to develop industry-specific sustainability accounting standards that help businesses disclose financially material ESG information to investors. Modeled loosely on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), SASB was designed to bring the rigor and comparability of financial accounting to sustainability reporting. The Iron & Steel Producers standard was among the first cohort of industry standards developed, reflecting the sector's outsized environmental footprint and investor interest in material risks such as carbon pricing, air quality regulation, and water scarcity.

SASB published provisional standards for 79 industries (later consolidated to 77) between 2012 and 2016, and released its full codified standards in 2018 following an extensive public comment and revision process. A major milestone came in 2020 when SASB joined the "Statement of Intent to Work Together" alongside GRI, CDP, CDSB, and the IIRC, signaling a move toward framework consolidation. In 2021, SASB merged with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to form the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF). The most transformative development came in August 2022, when the VRF — and with it, SASB's entire library of standards — was consolidated into the IFRS Foundation, which had established the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in November 2021. The ISSB now maintains and evolves SASB standards as the industry-specific component of its global sustainability disclosure framework.