"[Press Release] South Korea's biggest steelmaker legally challenged for "carbon neutral” branding," 18 Dec 2023

Climate organization Solutions for Our Climate is taking legal action against POSCO’s greenwashing through the South Korean Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Environment. POSCO is South Korea’s largest corporate emitter and one of the world’s largest steelmakers. 

[...] The legal claim centers around POSCO’s “carbon neutral” master brand Greenate, which campaigners accuse of exaggerating the sustainability of its products and detracting attention from the company’s continued use of coal-fired blast furnaces without concrete phase-out plans.

[...] While POSCO has been promoting its “carbon neutral” brand to investors and steel customers, it is also investing over $400 million (519 billion won) to extend the life of two blast furnaces at its Pohang and Gwangyang steel plants, which are the world’s largest integrated steel mills.

[...] POSCO’s low-carbon products under the “Greenate Value Chain” focus on customer-saved and avoided emissions. The rationale is that despite the use of blast furnaces, the steel products are more durable, thereby reducing the potential amount of products used by its customers.

[...] POSCO’s “Greenate-certified steel” uses the mass balance methodology to certify some of its products as low carbon. This approach allows the company to unevenly allocate amounts of emissions reduction to specific steel products. 

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