Hyundai Steel and Hyundai Construction Establish Carbon Reduction Building Model

Application of Carbon-Reduction Rebar and Steel Sections
Reducing Carbon Emissions in Construction Phase

Hyundai Steel announced on the 4th that it has decided to build a carbon reduction construction model by increasing the use of 'carbon reduction construction steel' in collaboration with Hyundai Engineering & Construction.

The carbon reduction construction model involves switching construction materials, which are major sources of carbon emissions during the building construction phase, to carbon reduction materials to reduce carbon emissions. This is a core method of reducing embodied carbon currently being implemented in Europe, the United States, and other regions to achieve carbon reduction.

Carbon-reduced H-beams produced in Hyundai Steel's electric furnace for use as building frameworks (Provided by Hyundai Steel)

This model applies carbon reduction rebar and structural steel produced by Hyundai Steel. Since rebar and structural steel are produced using an electric furnace method that uses scrap as raw material, they are inherently recycled resource products and emit less carbon compared to materials produced by the blast furnace method.

In particular, Hyundai Steel’s rebar and structural steel are characterized by lower carbon emissions even compared to materials produced by the same electric furnace method. In the case of rebar, the carbon footprint figure is 0.451 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e/kg), which is about 6% lower than the average carbon emissions of 0.481 CO2e/kg for similar rebar products certified with the domestic Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The H-beam structural steel records emissions of 0.555 CO2e/kg, approximately 69% lower than the average carbon emissions of 1.76 CO2e/kg for similar structural steel products.

The two companies have also separately formed a consultative body among three companies, including Sampyo Cement, to develop carbon reduction products in the cement sector. Currently, it is in the commercialization verification stage with the goal of applying it to construction sites next year.

A Hyundai Steel official said, "Based on the assumption that carbon reduction rebar, structural steel, and cement were applied to major buildings of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, we evaluated the carbon emissions and confirmed that the embodied carbon portion showed carbon emissions reduced by more than 30% compared to existing buildings, demonstrating a significant effect in carbon reduction."

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