CORPORATE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE STAINLESS STEEL INDUSTRY : A case study on the environmental efforts of Corporation X

Abstract: How to integrate sustainability into business activities is discussed within corporations more than ever today. With increasing sustainability requirements set by governments and non-governmental organizations, corporations in all industries are facing challenges to readjust their businesses. The emission intense stainless steel industry is no exception. Through a case study of Corporation X, this thesis aims to investigate how Facility Y works with sustainability aspects and what could be done to enhance the level of environmental sustainability. It is done by first exploring what sustainability is. When a common understanding of sustainability hasbeen established, it is explored how a corporation can be identified in terms of their sustainability commitment and ongoing projects. Lastly, an investigation of how a corporation could enhance the level of substantiality is conducted through four pillars to fulfill the bottom line. We found that Corporation X is somewhat proactive and have a minimization approach towardenvironmental sustainability. In other words, they are considered to aim at ‘being less bad’ rather than being ‘more good’ in their sustainability work. Corporation X thus face challenges with increasing requirements and should enhance their level of sustainability to remain competitive. With an analysis of the four pillars, we concluded that Facility Y should prioritize improvements within the pillar of measurement and disclosure since they lack in terms of reliable carbon dioxide emission metrics on a product level. We further argue that the four pillars are intertwined but should be prioritized differently based on the prerequisites of thecorporation at hand. The recommended prioritization at Facility Y on measurement will thuschange when there are reliable carbon dioxide emission measurements. A reassessment of what is most important must be done.