The control of emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases is one of the great challenges facing society for sustainable development.

Construction plays a central role in this process, since materials and raw materials are usually the main sources of CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of a building, according to studies in the Instructe Guide.

Under this scenario, this presentation proposes to discuss elementary concepts about CO2 emissions, such as the Carbon Footprint and Embedded Carbon, as well as how to review the stages of a Building Life Cycle and its relationships with the scopes defined by the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Scopes 1,2 and 3).

In addition to this, according to the perspective of one of the main steel producers on a global scale, a special focus will be made on Structural Steel and more specifically on Hot Rolled Sections produced according to the ASTM A913 (HISTAR®) standard – we will try to demonstrate how the production of steel from scrap & EAF (Electric Arc Furnaces), associated with the use of renewable electrical energy (XCarb™) and processes that deliver higher performance steels, allow us better performance of Steel Structures, with optimisation of its consumption and reduction of carbon emissions of the Projects.