"Hyundai's steel supply chain has ‘alarming’ pattern of human rights violations, environmental abuses and climate disrespect, report finds", 25 February 2025

...This is what the report ‘Tainted steel: the deadly consequences of Hyundai's dirty steel supply chain’ produced by Mighty Earth shows. The document claims that the South Korean carmaker's public commitments to sustainability are, in fact, a ‘mirage’.

A coalition of organisations carried out in-depth research between 2018 and 2024 to claim that Hyundai's steel supply chain and its suppliers, which includes companies such as Vale and Ternium, are ‘directly linked to devastating environmental destruction, worker exploitation and community rights violations’...

The document points to...the harmful impacts of the Ternium steel plant, located in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro...

According to 2024 data from the Fair Steel Coalition, Ternium's steel production emits more than 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year, representing a considerable portion of Rio's total greenhouse gas emissions, among a series of other environmental and social damages, such as the consumption of water that would supply between 10 and 14 million people.

Steel from the chain is used to manufacture Hyundai and Kia vehicle models such as the Tucson, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Genesis, EV9 and Sorento. ‘These vehicles are then exported and sold in a large number of markets, including the United States, Canada, Norway, Turkey, Mexico, Australia, the Philippines and the European Union,’ explains the report.

In the case of Vale, the company is classed as one of Hyundai's ‘most prominent’ suppliers, citing the iron ore mines in Minas Gerais and the Carajás region in Pará, where environmental pollution, according to the document, ‘is rampant’...

According to the investigation into the carmaker's production chain, Ternium plays ‘a central role in Hyundai's supply chain’. In Brazil, the steelmaker owns the Santa Cruz integrated plant, which produces steel using iron ore and coal from suppliers such as Vale and BHP Mitsubishi Alliance.

According to the links in the investigation, this steel is then sent to Ternium in Mexico. And between March 2019 and February 2024, the investigation identified 253 shipments of steel slabs from Ternium in Brazil to Ternium Mexico, worth 33 billion dollars.

Hyundai Motor Company, of which Hyundai Motor Brasil is a subsidiary, said in a statement to Observatório da Mineração that it ‘is committed to an ethical and sustainable supply chain that supports human rights, environmental protection and respect for people's safety’.

In addition, Hyundai Motor denies having a direct contractual relationship ‘with some of the companies cited in the report’.

‘The company will continuously expand the performance of its raw materials supply chain management in order to proactively mitigate potential risks to human rights and the environment within the complete value chain. Hyundai Motor remains committed to a holistic approach to carbon neutrality, investigating and implementing various measures and strengthening its collaboration throughout the supply chain,’ says the note.

Vale's note claims that, contrary to what the report points out, it takes various measures to ensure that its operations are carried out in a responsible and sustainable manner and that it believes that ‘sustainable mining must integrate environmental protection, community well-being and economic development, and we play a fundamental role in decarbonising the global steel industry, supplying ores and metals with a lower carbon footprint, essential for the energy transition. In its actions, the company considers environmental aspects and all applicable legislation and manages its processes using available technology for environmental control, preventing and mitigating impacts. In addition, the company's social actions are based on a permanent process of managing risks to communities and promoting a positive social legacy. Through alliances and partnerships, we are always looking for ways to articulate solutions to the challenges faced by neighbouring communities and society.’

[...]

Ternium and Kia had not replied by the time this edition was published to requests for a position on the data and statements in the report, even after more than 10 days and repeated contacts...

(Translated by the BHRRC)