thyssenkrupp

Thyssenkrupp has committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2050, with ambitions to achieve this goal earlier in certain businesses and countries, all without the use of carbon offsets. The company’s net-zero target encompasses at least 95% of its overall emissions from operations, and the company plans to seek validation by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for this target in 2023. The validation process will align with the upcoming Sectoral Decarbonisation Approach (SDA) for the steel sector, following the 1.5°C pathway. The company is projected to remain within its carbon budget for 2023-2037.

No leading practices were identified for this company.

No leading practices were identified for this company.

No leading practices were identified for this company.

The company does not disclose the emissions intensities of its steel production activities. This hinders a proper assessment of its current efforts in reducing emissions over the short term.

Though the company has a well-established process to track decarbonisation progress, it provides no details on a concrete timeline for updating its transition plan. Furthermore, although the transition plan contains references to long-term actions, the corresponding descriptions lack detail, in particular, information regarding the amount of capital investments the company plans to commit and the expected carbon saving.

Thyssenkrupp discloses total research and development (R&D) expenditure for 2020, 2021 and 2022 at the group level but not specifically for its steel business segment. This hinders a more complete assessment of the company’s low-carbon R&D.

Thyssenkrupp currently lacks a comprehensive client engagement strategy, although it reports some concrete actions. A key company avenue for assisting clients to achieve reductions in scope 3 emissions involves the promotion of ‘green steel’ sales, for which the company has also estimated potentially avoided emissions. However, it remains unclear to what extent the observed increase in production can be attributed specifically to Thyssenkrupp’s client engagement efforts as opposed to broader market trends. Crucially, the company does not disclose the total emissions encompassed by its client engagement activities, making it challenging to assess the extent of the company’s efforts.

Thyssenkrupp pledges to cut direct and purchased energy emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels, with a long-term goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Thyssenkrupp Steel has signed a contract with RWE, a German electric utility, for the supply of green electricity to its first DRI plant. This strategy envisages successively increasing the use of electricity generated from renewable sources and thus paving the way for carbon-neutral production.

Currently, around 93% of Thyssenkrupp’s steel production capacity is provided from blast furnaces and only 7% from electric arc furnaces.

Thyssenkrupp Steel is investing in a 100% hydrogen-capable DRI plant with an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes, allowing for savings of up to 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Further, the company has allocated about EUR €2 billion for the tkH2Steel decarbonisation project at the Duisburg site and the first hydrogen-powered DRI plant is scheduled to come into operation there by the end of 2026.

Thyssenkrupp has established high-level oversight of climate change within its board through a Sustainability Committee. The committee convenes annually to determine the company’s overarching climate strategy.

No evidence was found of the company’s commitment to social dialogue or of the categories of stakeholders the company engages with on a just transition. Furthermore, no evidence was found to demonstrate the company’s ongoing social dialogue and meaningful engagement with affected stakeholders.
No evidence was found of the company undertaking low-carbon transition planning to mitigate the social impacts of the transition on workers, affected stakeholders and its business relationships. Additionally, no evidence was found to demonstrate the company’s engagement in social dialogue and with stakeholders in its just transition planning.

The company discloses its actions to provide jobs and careers to women and vulnerable groups, such as targeted hiring of women and programmes to expand employment of people with disabilities. However, no evidence was found of the company committing to create and support access to green and decent jobs as part of the low-carbon transition. Furthermore, no relevant disclosure was found of the company’s assessment of employment dislocation risks.
The company discloses its actions to provide training and educational opportunities for workers and affected stakeholders. For instance, it offers apprenticeship and trainee programmes. The company also discloses the measures it takes to embed equality of opportunity for women and vulnerable groups in these actions through programmes that specifically target groups such as women and female refugees. However, no evidence was found of the company having a process for identifying skills gaps for workers and stakeholders affected by the low-carbon transition or a public commitment to help workers displaced by the transition to reskill or upskill.

No relevant disclosure was found to show if the company identifies the impacts of the low-carbon transition on social protection for workers and affected stakeholders, nor how it contributes to their social protection. Additionally, no evidence was found that the company expects its business relationships to contribute to the social protection of their workers and affected stakeholders.
No relevant disclosure was found to show how the company identifies any misalignment of its lobbying activities with policies and regulations that support the just transition, nor of the measures it takes to address misalignment. Furthermore, no evidence was found that the company lobbies for policies and regulations for green and decent job creation; retention, education and reskilling; and social protection for workers.

The company commits to respecting human rights and the ILO fundamental rights at work. However, no evidence was found of the company’s process to identify, assess and mitigate salient human rights risks in its operations and supply chain. Moreover, no evidence was found of the company disclosing the stakeholders whose human rights have been affected by its activities. The company does, however, have a grievance mechanism available to workers and external stakeholders.

The company commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and expects the same commitment from its business relationships. However, no evidence was found of the company having a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage. The company is committed to women’s empowerment and sets time a time-bound target for women’s representation in the organisation. The company can strengthen its disclosure on these topics as well as on collective bargaining.

The company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and discloses a privacy statement regarding the use of personal data. Additionally, it discloses its lobbying expenditures and specifies that it does not make political contributions. It can, however, strengthen its disclosure on these topics as well as on its responsible tax practices.