Three words – safe, sustainable steel – sum up everything we are trying to achieve at ArcelorMittal.

We firmly believe that long-term growth is linked directly to our wider commitment to the communities in which we work, our employees and the environment. Without this link, we would not have a sustainable business. As the leader in all major global steel markets around the world, with an industrial presence in more than 22 countries spanning four continents, we believe we have a unique opportunity to drive sustainability in our industry.

Our suppliers are crucial to supporting our commitment to sustainability. For this partnership to be successful we need to build trust; and that can only come with transparency and good communication.

Drawing on our initiatives and best practice from around the company, we formalised our responsible sourcing programme in 2010. Our responsible sourcing principles, which incorporate health and safety, human rights, ethics and the environment, are given systematic consideration when making a procurement decision, alongside factors such as price and quality.

Local initiatives

Along with our global initiatives to ensure responsible sourcing, our business units have found innovative ways to work with suppliers at the local level, and we seek to share these practices across the company.

Our code

As a first step in our responsible sourcing programme, we published the ArcelorMittal Code for Responsible Sourcing. This sets out how we work with our suppliers as well as defining minimum requirements for responsible sourcing. We invite our suppliers to work with us to identify and develop ongoing improvements.

The code complements and supports existing ArcelorMittal policies and guidelines, including our Code of Business Conduct and policies on human rights, health and safety, the environment and anti-corruption guidelines.

Guidance document

For responsible sourcing to work, we must work in partnership with our suppliers. We have therefore developed a guidance document to support both our buyers and suppliers. It explains what we mean by responsible sourcing and outlines the responsibilities of both parties to make this happen.

We ask all our suppliers to formally commit to meeting the requirements set out in our code. However, this is just the beginning of our work with buyers and suppliers. To achieve our goal of producing safe sustainable steel, we have to push the boundaries. We want to find further opportunities for collaboration and performance improvement.

Along with our global initiatives to ensure responsible sourcing, our business units have found innovative ways to work with suppliers at the local level, and we seek to share these practices across the company.

ArcelorMittal Brasil helps small and medium-sized companies implement a quality management system, so that they can achieve the supply standards required by large customers. By helping small businesses improve competitiveness, our units in Tubarão and Cariacica also aim to build local capacity and promote economic development. The scope of this programme has been growing in recent years, and now includes certifications in environmental and occupational health and safety systems.