Sustainable Constructional Steel Certification Scheme

What is the Sustainable Constructional Steel
Certification Scheme?

The Sustainable Constructional Steel Certification Scheme (SCS Scheme) ensures that construction steel entering Australia and New Zealand from anywhere in the world meets the highest global environmental, social and ethical standards, using independent certification of ESG criteria and performance indicators. In so doing, it seeks to improve the environmental, social, and economic management of steel producers and processors, as well as improving the performance of products.

The Scheme aligns to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 'The Global Goals’ and measures and monitors a comprehensive range of criteria through the global supply chain, including ethical business practices; modern slavery, human rights and labour conditions; environmental impacts (including circular economy and climate change); fair supplier treatment and the socio-economic impacts of the steel value chain.

The SCS Scheme is also recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) under its Responsible Products program, which in turn is used for credits in Green Star certification. The SCS Scheme has achieved Best Practice across five Responsible Product Guidelines categories. See more on using SCS Scheme for Green Star certification below.

“Customers and end users – especially governments and the public – want to know what impact a project has had, and use ethically and sustainably sourced materials to minimise their emissions footprint.

The SCS Scheme ensures their steel meets stretching sustainability criteria set out by highly regarded bodies such as the GBCA, giving them confidence over their choices.” - Dr Andrew Wheeler, ACRS

Products certified under the SCS Scheme are automatically approved inputs for a range of additional international building and infrastructure rating systems through upstream global supply chains, including

What sets the SCS Scheme apart is the thorough nature of the certification and its international recognition and application. If comparing ESG schemes, be aware of greenwashing and sub-standard schemes, and ensure the following minimum criteria are met (see more on picking a sustainability scheme here >):

Best-practice inclusions

SCS Scheme

- Aligns to globally-recognised sustainability goals e.g. UN’s Global Goals and is itself internationally recognised

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- Is accepted by many national and local rating systems & governments; supported by peak local technical bodies

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- Achieves maximum credits towards Green Star

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- Reviews end-to-end supply chain; offers 100% traceability on all verified products from manufacture to site, e.g. via on-product bar marking and digital product labelling

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- Is undertaken by impartial third-party, independent of steel industry; is transparent

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- Ongoing checks, with fixed-term certification

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- Considers ethical business practices, including fair supplier treatment and socio-economic impact of value chain

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- Considers modern slavery, human rights and labour conditions

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- Considers environmental impacts and responsible production (including circular economy and climate change), by reviewing:
Raw material data
Transport data
Production data
Life cycle emissions data

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- Supports Carbon Footprint reporting and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), including Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and reporting of Global Warming Potential (GWP)

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- Run by not-for-profit, consumer-driven body

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- Accredited by JAS-ANZ or equal accreditation body

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- Can be undertaken as part of Product and other certification, to save on costs & resources

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- Is clear, simple process providing technical clarity around certification; supports continued testing and evaluation for approval

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- Is easily publicly accessible to designers, specifiers, end-users allowing them to responsibly source products; is digitally verifiable i.e. fraud-proof

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- Supports producer/processor & industry benchmarking and improvement

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- Provides steel producers/processorswith competitive advantage

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- Supports producers/processors to improve the performance of products & operational efficiencies

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Certification
Agreement Download Now

Who is it for?

For steel producers and processors, the Scheme helps measure, monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their products and strengthen industry efforts already underway to combat greenhouse gas emissions – as well as demonstrating their sustainability efforts to governments and other buyers (see more on embodied carbon in steel here >). The SCS Scheme covers

production of feedstock for further processing (e.g., billets, blooms slabs, wire rod)

finished steel products (e.g., carbon steel bar/coil, stainless steel bar/coil and structural steels)

fabricated materials (mesh, processed bar and welded fabrication)

The Scheme already certifies over 40 producers and suppliers from thirteen countries around the world.

For designers, specifiers, and steel users, the SCS Certification Scheme provides a robust and transparent mechanism which clearly and simply communicates the overall sustainability performance of constructional steel products.

The SCS Scheme is compatible with ACRS’ traceability provisions in ACRS “Stage 1” (Manufactured Product) and “Stage 2” (Fabricated Product) certification, plus the Traceability Scheme for traders and distributors.

designers
specifiers
steel users

How does it work?

For firms eligible to apply for certification by fulfilling the prerequisite requirements, the assessment procedure comprises the following:

A detailed review of the company’s Sustainability Management System Manual (or equivalent)
Once the provision of the Sustainability Management System Manual, (or equivalent) has been shown to meet the requirements of the SCS Scheme, the company’s product, quality, environmental, health and safety and sustainability management systems are all reviewed.
A two-stage audit process is then carried out, comprising a detailed review of evidence and the verification of data on site against a series of Key Performance Indicators and the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) dataset.
ACRS auditors audit over 100 criteria covering the entire supply chain from raw materials, through production of the constructional steel, its processing to the delivery of the finished product to the construction site.
After a successful assessment, recommendation of certification and the payment of fees a Certificate of Approval will be issued.
The supplier remains responsible for compliance with legal requirements, voluntary commitments (for example compliance with the ILO standards, the declaration of human rights, its own public commitments) and standards and applying best practices as far as is reasonably practicable.
The SCS Scheme enables credits to be obtained for achievements beyond compliance and minimum thresholds. Credits can be gained for performance that meets specified criteria above the mandatory certification level as part of the CARES ‘Rosette Rating System’. Beyond basic certification, there are 4 additional performance levels reflecting good, better, best practice and aspirational ‘sustainable’ steel (1, 2, 3 or 4 Rosettes).
CARES collects, audits, collates and reports the sector sustainability performance data in line with requirements set out in BS 8902 - Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products and the Scheme Principles.

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Using SCS for Green Star rating

Green Building Council Australia is Australia’s trusted authority on sustainable buildings and communities. Its Green Star rating system certifies projects as responsible, healthy, resilient, and positive and, like the SCS Scheme, aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals and other leading frameworks.

To achieve a Green Star certification, a project is awarded points, based on performance across a range of categories. The total points determine the Green Star rating (4, 5, or 6 stars).

The Responsible Products program assigns a value score to products after assessment by a GBCA-recognised third-party initiative. These product values comprise credits towards a Green Star rating.

In the case of steel, the SCS Scheme is a the onto offer ‘Best Practice’ maximum scores across all five categories of the Guidelines – Responsible; Healthy; Positive; Circular; Leadership. Importantly, all SCS Scheme-certified products are able to award Best Practice values across these five areas, unlike other Schemes that may be limited to certain areas, or offer partial credits.

When used in combination with other certified initiatives (covering non-steel products or systems), the SCS Scheme places your project in the strongest position to meet the relevant credit requirements and achieve compliance with Green Star Buildings certification.

	Responsible Product Values	Responsible Product Values	ACRS SCS accredited product credits
Responsible Structure	10 or more	15 or more	18
Responsible Envelope	10 or more	15 or more	18
Responsible Systems	6 or more	11 or more	18
Responsible Finishes	7 or more	12 or more	18

Responsible Product Guidelines Category	Credit
Responsible	Corporate Commitment Environmental Management Carbon Emissions Disclosure Socially Responsible Extraction of Resources Transparent Chain of Custody Environmental Impact Disclosure Health Impacts Disclosure Ingredient Disclosure
Healthy	Occupant Health and Safety Manufacturing Health and Safety Chemicals of Modern Slavery Social Accountability
Positive	Energy Use Reduction Energy Source Carbon Emissions Reduction Water Use Reduction
Circular	Impacts to Nature Material Extraction Impact Reduction Waste Generation Reduction Packaging
Leadership	Market Transformation