How EPDs Enabled Product-Level Carbon Transparency for Al Jazeera Steel
Table of Contents
Company Overview
Al Jazeera Steel Products Co. SAOG is one of the leading and the largest steel manufacturers in Oman and the Middle East, supplying high quality steel products for different sectors such as construction, infrastructure and industrial applications across regional and international markets. Al Jazeera Steel established their operations in 1996 in Sohar, Oman operating strategically from Sohar Industrial Estate, which gives them access to all the key export markets.
Al Jazeera Steel operates mainly in two divisions – Tube Mill (TM) and Merchant bar Mill (MBM) and a diversified product portfolio that includes ERW tubes, rebars, hollow sections and other structural steel products such as angles, channels, flats and rounds.
Production Capacity: Al Jazeera Steel operates with a production capacity of approximately 600,000 MT per annum across the facilities, with a split of 300,000 MT from its tube mill and 300,000 MT from its merchant bar mill.
Al Jazeera operates within a governance driven system that ensures transparency, accountability and ESG disclosures as it is a publicly listed entity on the Muscat Stock Exchange.
Why Al Jazeera Steel Pursued EPDs
As Al Jazeera Steel recognized that sustainability is becoming a key procurement criterion in global markets, especially in the construction and infrastructure markets, they decided to move beyond just their internal efforts to more externally verified environmental disclosures.
Al Jazeera took a strategic decision to quantify and communicate their product level environmental impact for all their core product lines with the help of EPD’s rather than just approaching sustainability as a compliance requirement.
What Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) enable:
- Alignment with global green building standards like LEED, BREEAM, etc.
- A stronger positioning in the export markets
- A transparent communication of environmental impact
- Credibility building with ESG conscious buyers and project developers
Initiatives like EPDs support more closer alignment with investor expectations, ESG benchmarks and all ever evolving regulatory frameworks in both regional and global markets because of sustainability disclosures become increasingly material for listed companies.
The Challenge
Developing EPD’s for steel products, not just steel for any industry in that matter is not an easy task that can be wrapped up in a day, it involves multiple layers of complexity, such as:
- Collecting plant and product level data across all processes
- Conducting Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) aligned with international standards
- Allocating emissions accurately across all the product categories (PCRs)
- Ensuring compliance with relevant Product Category Rules (PCRs)
- Preparing documentation for third party verification
The main challenge for Al Jazeera Steel was to consolidate data across products and then translate it to standardized and verification ready EPDs.
EPDs also require very strict adherence to LCA methodologies and standards alongside ensuring consistency and audit readiness for the multiple products (ERW tubes, rebars and structural bars).
The sentra.world Solution
Al Jazeera Steel partnered with sentra.world as an EPD consultant to streamline the development process by leveraging their domain expertise on steel, technology and end-to-end support.
- Product-Level Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Using sentra.world’s expertise combined with globally recognized software for LCA – SimaPro, environmental impacts were calculated across the cradle-to-gate boundary with considerations for End of Life for the following products:
- ERW Tubes
- Rebars
- Structural Bars
What this included was:
- Extraction of raw material and upstream processing
- Energy consumption and impacts on manufacturing
- Allocation of environmental impacts across product category rules (PCRs)
By leveraging the established LCA methodologies within SimaPro, the assessment for developing EPDs ensured:
- High methodological accuracy
- Compliance with PCRs
- Global acceptability of output of EPDs
- Alignment with ISO standards i.e. ISO 14040/44 for LCA and ISO 14025 for EPDs
- Structured Data Collection and Validation
sentra.world enabled and simplified the processes by:
- Centralized data collection across all the processes and departments
- Validation and proofs of input datasets
- Alignment with LCA methodologies
This approach eliminated inconsistencies, reduced manual effort, and ensured integrity of data across all product lines.
- Documentation for EPD and compliance
The sentra.world team supported Al Jazeera Steel in:
- Aligning with all the applicable Product category Rules (PCRs)
- Preparing EPD from start to the end and related documentations
- Structuring reports for 3rd party verification
All the EPDs prepared, and the documentations were designed to be audit-ready and globally compliant.
- Verification and Certification Support
sentra.world didn’t only support in developing EPDs but worked closely with Al Jazeera Steel on:
- Support in third party verification processes
- Query resolution and documentation support
- Final submission for EPD publication on EPD International website
This ensured that the EPD journey was a smooth and efficient process with minimal delays and rework.
The Outcome: Verified EPDs for Core Products
Al Jazeera Steel with the help of sentra.world developed and verified Environmental Product Declarations for:
- ERW Tubes
- Reinforcement Bars (Rebar)
- Structural Steel Bars
Read the full EPD reports here – https://www.environdec.com/library?company=606482c1-c3fd-43ac-413b-08de0d638ff6
These EPDs are not just documents used for keepsake but now serve as:
- Verified environmental credentials for global buyers
- Inputs for green building certifications
- A foundation for future carbon reduction strategies
Business Impact
The EPD initiative taken by Al Jazeera Steel to forward their sustainability outcomes delivered both strategic and operational value to them by:
- Enhanced Market Credibility
EPDs that are verified by third parties provide strong validation of the sustainability claims made by the company, which in turn improves trust with international buyers and stakeholders.
- Competitive Differentiation
In international markets where environmental transparency and sustainability claims influences procurement, EPDs will position Al Jazeera Steel ahead of its competitors who are still relying on unverified claims.
- Readiness for Exports
EPDs strengthen your market position and alignment with global regulatory trends and buyer expectations, especially the clients from Europe and the Middle East.
- Data Driven Sustainability
The process of drafting EPDs also established a structured baseline for measuring, managing and reducing emissions across the product lines for future use and benchmarking.
- Stronger ESG Positioning
As Al Jazeera Steel is a listed entity on Muscat Stock Exchange, initiatives like EPDs enhance ESG disclosure readiness which reinforces transparency and accountability for stakeholders and investors.
Testimonial
“Al Jazeera Steel partnered with sentra.world to enhance our sustainability initiatives and strengthen our place in the global markets. Over the past year, the sentra.world team has been a guiding force in our green steel journey by offering deep expertise, responsiveness and practical support throughout the process. Their insights have helped us to take a more holistic and data driven approach to managing our carbon footprint.
We at Al Jazeera Steel look forward to continuing this collaboration as we plan to move toward a more sustainable and responsible future.”
– Zia Jabbar, General Manager, Strategic Marketing & Projects, Al Jazeera Steel.
Listen to sentra.greentalks where Mr. Zia shares his perspective on growth, innovation, and sustainability in the steel industry.
Conclusion
The journey of Al Jazeera Steel in deciding to develop EPDs for several product lines reflects a transformation in the steel industry where sustainability is not just seen as a compliance requirement but a strategic business capability.
By partnering with sentra.world for developing EPDs, the company transformed their complex, data-intensive process into a structured, scalable and credible system for environmental reporting.
Global markets are now prioritizing low carbon materials, verified disclosures, and ESG transparency which will now play a defining role in shaping industrial competitiveness. For this, sentra.world continues to enable industrial manufacturers to move from fragmented data towards a more measurable and reportable sustainability outcome.