Climate Lobbying Overview: Bluescope Steel appears to support climate change regulation with some exceptions, actively engaging in New Zealand and Australia. The company’s engagement with climate policy in Australia and has been mixed, but its lobbying activities on New Zealand’s Emissions Trading System have been more obstructive.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Bluescope Steel seems to take mixed positions on climate action in its top-line messaging. In its 2021 Climate Action Report the company supported limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and in its 2020/21 Sustainability report it acknowledged the need to reduce emissions in the iron and steel industry in line with the UN Paris Agreement. This is an improvement from its 2017 position, which emphasized the economic and social risks of ambitious GHG emissions reductions. Bluescope Steel seemed to support the need for government regulation to respond to climate change in its 2021 Climate Action Report, but with the caveat that policies should not create carbon leakage, nor impact the international competitiveness of companies. In the same report, Blusecope CEO Mark Vassella advocated for “appropriate policy settings.”

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Bluescope Steel has limited, mixed engagement with climate-related regulations. In February 2021, Bluescope Steel supported Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target in response to a government consultation in New South Wales. In a press release in March 2022, the CEO of Bluescope Steel expressed support for the Renewable Manufacturing Fund created by the New South Wales government to increase the manufacture of renewable energy.

However, Bluescope Steel appeared to oppose reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism in its September 2022 consultation response, emphasizing that the proposed baseline decline rates were unfeasible for the company’s operations, supporting differentiated baseline decline rates for EITE sectors, and stressing the risks associated with removing headroom in the policy. Bluescope Steel’s engagement on climate policy in New Zealand has also been obstructive. The company appeared to advocate for the free allocation of emissions allowances in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme in its 2021 Sustainability Report, which would lower the ambition of the policy.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Bluescope Steel seems to support the energy transition with some exceptions. In its Climate Action Report 2021, the company supported policy measures to decarbonize the steel industry, but stressed that they must avoid carbon leakage. In the same report, it also advocated for policy to increase renewable electricity and green hydrogen production. In response to a consultation in August 2021, Bluescope Steel strongly supported Australia’s Hydrogen Guarantee of Origin scheme, but advocated that other renewable gasses should be included without clarifying what this would include. In a consultation submission in February 2021, it advocated for government policy to help decarbonize hydrogen production and make renewable hydrogen more affordable. However, ABC news reported in February 2022 that Bluescope Steel estimated that commercially viable green steel is still “decades away” and emphasized the infeasibility of the decarbonization of steel.

On the other hand, the company appears supportive of the long-term role of fossil gas in the energy mix, arguing that the cost of green hydrogen is six times higher than fossil gas, as reported by Argus Media in March 2021. In an August 2021 consultation response to Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap, the company did not appear to support the transition from a gaseous based energy system, citing cost concerns of transitioning and the cost of increasing electrification by using renewables, but does support the use of biogas and eventual use of hydrogen.

Industry Association Governance: BlueScope has a detailed disclosure of its membership and governance processes for industry associations, although it lacks details of its influence within each industry association such as positions held and the relevant policy positions of the associations on climate change. The company published an Industry Associations Governance Standard in September 2019 to disclose industry association governance and actions to address potential misalignments. BlueScope is a member of several key industry associations with mixed engagement on climate policy in Australia including the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia. The CEO Mark Vassella is on the board of the World Steel Association which assumes mixed positions on climate policy, and a senior executive is Deputy Chair of the Energy Users Association of Australia which engages negatively on Australian climate policy.

InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q4 2022.