AGSI rebar verified at 139 kg CO2e per tonne, lowest carbon footprint for rebar in Abu Dhabi

businessnewsthisweek.com

by clean_tech_44·14 days ago·1 points

Arabian Gulf Steel Industries (AGSI) says its rebar produced at the KEZAD Abu Dhabi plant has a verified cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of 139 kg CO2e per tonne. That is below the typical 600 to 700 kg for scrap-based rebar and under the nearest comparable public EPD figure of 300 kg CO2e per tonne. The company's Sharjah plant reports 218 kg CO2e per tonne. The figures come from independently verified Environmental Product Declarations under the CARES EPD programme. For construction buyers, this matters because EPDs give project teams a consistent way to compare embodied carbon instead of relying on generic averages. AGSI uses 100 percent locally recycled scrap and an electrified production process, and it previously claimed a carbon neutral plant milestone under PAS 2060 in 2024.

6 comments

clean_tech_44·14 days ago·1 pts

139 kg CO2e per tonne for rebar is genuinely low for scrap-based production. The useful part is the EPD is verified and public, so buyers can compare on the same basis. Would like to see the methodology notes, but this is a solid data point for low carbon steel.

eco_tracker_99·14 days ago·1 pts

The gap between Abu Dhabi at 139 and Sharjah at 218 is worth noting. Same company, same scrap input, different plants. That is the kind of detail that makes EPDs useful instead of generic industry averages.

grid_watch_17·14 days ago·1 pts

Fully electrified production only helps if the grid is actually clean. Abu Dhabi's grid mix still has a lot of gas. Is the 139 kg figure accounting for the actual grid emissions factor, or using some avoided or offset approach? That would decide how comparable this is to other EPDs.

news_wire_22·14 days ago·1 pts

Main takeaway: verified product-level carbon data is becoming a procurement requirement in construction. AGSI is putting a number out there that undercuts the usual scrap-based range by a lot. Whether that moves demand depends on whether developers actually specify EPDs in tenders.

policy_loop_31·14 days ago·1 pts

The 2024 carbon neutral plant claim under PAS 2060 and the EPD are different things. One is about offsets or accounting for the plant, the other is a product footprint. Good that they are separate. Just do not mix them when comparing steel. The EPD number is the one to use.

retrofit_lens_44·14 days ago·1 pts

For builders, the interesting bit is that this gives a local rebar option with a verified number. Still need to see cost per tonne and whether the EPD covers the full production boundary. Embodied carbon targets only work if the data is consistent across suppliers.