"Tainted steel: the deadly consequences of Hyundai's dirty steel supply chain", February 2025

...The steel industry is responsible for around 7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, making it the industrial material with the largest climate impact... Demand from the automotive sector, which is the third largest user of steel globally, bears a significant share of the responsibility for these impacts...

As the third largest automotive company globally and the only automaker with its own steelmaking subsidiary, Hyundai Motor Company is uniquely advantaged to play a leading role in driving the decarbonization of automotive steel globally. In recent years, Hyundai has also vigorously marketed itself as a sustainability champion that is leading the industry in electrification and clean and equitable supply chains.

However, this report adds to the growing body of evidence that Hyundai's purported sustainability credentials are a mirage...

Some of the impacts identified in Hyundai's steel supply chain include:

• Huge quantities of climate destroying methane emissions, as well as habitat destruction and environmental pollution...
• Irresponsible iron ore mining in Brazil, which has caused the destruction and pollution of Indigenous Peoples’ territories, as well as the catastrophic failure of a tailings dam in Brumadinho, resulting in 272 deaths and the displacement of over 60,000 people.
• Iron ore mining operations in Mexico that have been tied to pervasive violence and human rights abuses, including the forced disappearances and killings of multiple Indigenous community leaders and activists, with some evidence suggesting possible cartel involvement in these killings and allegations of company complicity...
• Steelmaking facilities in South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and the United States that are responsible for releasing staggering quantities of greenhouse gas emissions but also harmful air pollution...

These products are ultimately used to manufacture Hyundai and Kia vehicle models such as the Tucson, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Genesis, EV9, Sorento, and many more. These vehicles are then exported to and sold in a large number of markets, including the United States, Canada, Norway, Turkey, Mexico, Australia, the Philippines, and the European Union...

In the company's response to Mighty Earth, Hyundai provided no evidence of any due diligence activities carried out at any of the specific facilities or suppliers identified by Mighty Earth, merely stating that ‘it is difficult to provide specific answers on individual supply chain information due to security concerns’, without explaining what those security concerns were. Nor did the company provide any counter-evidence that Hyundai does not source materials from these facilities and suppliers. Hyundai's persistent failure to signal intentions to move away from coal-based steel maintains the status quo documented in this report, which allows mining and steel companies to justify the expansion and continuation of coal mining and coal-based steel operations...