“What Gets Measured Gets Managed” – Peter Drucker

By Dr Troy Coyle, CEO, HERA

In Aotearoa New Zealand, there are a lot of conversations being had around carbon in the built environment, with our Ministry for Business, Innovation and Enterprise having developed two emissions mitigation frameworks under the Building for Climate Change Programme. These include proposed requirements in the Building Act and Code relating to carbon reductions.

From this month, certified zero carbon steel will be available in the New Zealand market through a robust offsetting program. The program, Hōtaka Whakakore Puhanga Waro, has been independently developed and is based on verifiable data.

HERA is the facilitator of the program and has partnered with social enterprise Ekos, a leader in environmental financing, to administer the offsetting process.

The program will give the option for specification and use of zero carbon steel through offsetting determined on the basis of a robust underlying carbon calculator.

New Zealand has committed to a net zero carbon target by 2050. Steel and iron production is the single largest industrial source of CO₂ emissions in New Zealand, representing 55% of industrial emissions and around 5% of total gross emissions^[1].

As we are all aware, carbon is primarily used in the steel-making process as a reductant, rather than an energy source – counter to how steel is often portrayed in the media. Although there is research into alternative reductants (e.g. hydrogen), currently no commercially viable alternative exists for coal, so until an alternative is developed, offsetting plays an important role in steel’s decarbonisation journey.

The zero carbon steel program has been developed to provide independent and robust carbon offsetting rules and a preference for the offsets to be focused on the planting of native trees to provide additional biodiversity and human capital benefits to New Zealand society.

The rules of program have been developed by thinkstep-anz, independent experts in sustainability, in consultation with HERA.

The program includes coated roofing and cladding, rebar used in concrete, light-gauge steel framing, heavy structural steel and stainless steel, wherever reliable EPD or LCA data was available.

We expect the program will change the conversation around the carbon performance of steel. For more information on Hōtaka Whakakore Puhanga Waro, visit www.hera.org.nz.

Dr Troy Coyle brings more than 20 years’ experience in innovation management across a range of industries including materials science, medical radiation physics, biotechnology, sustainable building products, renewable energy and steel. She is a scientist with a PhD (University of NSW) with training in journalism and communications.

[1] https://www.wellingtonuniventures.nz/portfolio/green-steel/