The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. A second office in Beijing, China, opened in April 2006.
worldsteel is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world, with members in every major steel-producing country. worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. Members represent around 85% of global steel production.
It was founded as the International Iron and Steel Institute on 10 July 1967. It changed its name to the World Steel Association on 6 October 2008. The association celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017.
Our activity focus
Our relationship with international organisations
worldsteel maintains relations with several international organisations, including:
Our history
1967
- The International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) was established on 10 July 1967.
- In the beginning, there were 18 founding members from seven European countries and from Australia, Canada, Japan and the US.
1970s
- Geographical coverage increases rapidly, with companies from India, Brazil and Argentina joining our membership.
- POSCO (Korea) joined as an associate member.
1980s
- China Steel Corporation (Taiwan,1980) and Hyundai – originally Inchon Steel – (Korea,1985) joined as associate members.
1990s
- It was a slow decade for the recruitment of regular members but a large number of associate and affiliate members joined.
- 1993: Sustainable development policy agreed.
- 1994: Federations in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czech and Slovak Republics, and Slovenia become members.
- 1996: IISI took over the Ultra Light Steel Auto Body (ULSAB) programme.
- 1997: Publication of the first steel industry life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis to ISO standards.
2000s
- 2000: Nucor (US) joined as the first electric arc furnace member company.
- 2001: The first Russian steel-producing member (Severstal) joined the association.
- 2002: steeluniversity was launched and the climate change policy agreed.
- 2004: Formal entry of the five largest Chinese producers as members (Baosteel, Anshan, Handan, Shougang, Wuhan), plus CISA (China Iron and Steel Association).
- 2004: The first Sustainability Report was published and the Living Steel programme started; the second major Russian company (Evraz) joined.
- 2006: The safety and health principles were agreed and launched; the Beijing office was opened.
- 2008: IISI changed its name to World Steel Association (worldsteel).
- 2009: Climate Action, a CO2 data collection programme, was initiated.
2010s
- 2010: The first Steelie Awards ceremony was held at worldsteel’s annual conference.
- 2011: Ian Christmas retired as Director General of worldsteel and was succeeded by Dr Edwin Basson.
- 2014: worldsteel and its members held their first Steel Safety Day on 28 April and commit to making it an annual event.
- 2016: Steel – the permanent material in the circular economy campaign was launched.
- 2017: worldsteel celebrated its 50th anniversary. A Royal recognition is conferred by His Majesty Philippe of Belgium, seventh King of the Belgians.
- 2018: worldsteel introduced its Sustainability Champions Programme to recognise members who clearly demonstrate their commitment to sustainable development and the circular economy.
- 2019: worldsteel launched Step Up, a programme aimed at improving the operational efficiency of steel plants with a view to reducing CO2 emissions.
2020s
- 2021: worldsteel introduced nine sustainability principles with new associated objectives and criteria, incorporating topics of ESG (environment, social and governance).
- 2022: worldsteel publishes its new expanded Sustainability Principles Charter signed by 39 member organisations.
- 2022: First Open Forum, a platform to discuss key climate-related
topics with internal and external stakeholders.
- 2023: First Breakthrough Technology Conference, a platform for the technical community to explore solutions for decarbonising the steel industry.
- 2024: GHG methodology mapping to establish the similarities between each approach and identify possible alignment.
- 2024: Development of principles and guidelines to provide transparency and clarity on the application of chain of custody approaches.