Director of PT Gunung Prisma Liwa Supriyanti Explains How 'Green Steel' Can Impact the Environment, Society

JAKARTADAILY.ID – Discussions on Environmental, Social, and Governance, or ESG is growing along with the rapid growth of various development sectors that have an impact on humans and the earth, as a large but unstable ecosystem.

Sustainable development and the order of norms are the basis for moving.

Director of PT Gunung Prisma, Liwa Supriyanti, who has been in the steel industry for decades, sees the strategic meaning in its application in this field to implement energy conservation in the production process and source of raw materials that take into account the balance with the natural cycle of the environment.

The steel industry is an asset that makes an important contribution to society's economic and social development in general. The contribution is present in the income generation and the number of workers who are directly and indirectly involved in related fields.

With the achievements and advances in technology, the steel industry plays a role in driving the economy, as the basic industry for many other industries. Along with the increasing adoption of steel products in various downstream industries or end-users and increasing infrastructure activity, an analysis from Market Research Future (MRFR) in 2021 found that the scale of the world steel market is expected to reach $14.3 trillion by 2028.

For Indonesia, the domestic steel industry needs support in order to increase the use of existing manufacturing capacity. According to a report from CNBC Indonesia (15/2/2022), the Director-General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Electronics Industries at the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) said that the utilization of the national steel industry was at 67.69 percent in 2021, compared to 30 percent in 2020.

Also read: Indonesia Projected to Become World’s 2nd Largest Producer of Stainless Steel

The report said that raw materials for the national steel industry are an important consideration in the supply and demand aspect by implementing prudent import control and import substitution programs, so that the steel industry survives, and avoids unemployment and social problems.

The use of light steel is one of the innovations that make steel products a solution for other industries. With the existence of this light steel which is rigid and strong, it provides additional choices in project applications in terms of strength, ductility, and hardness to aesthetics according to the target specifications and needs.

In addition, the energy needed to produce steel is also a concern in research and development by various parties. It is an industrial and academic initiative to reduce the carbon footprint or decarbonize, by seeking alternative sources to fossil fuels in general and coal in particular.

With the concept of green steel, dependence on fossil fuels is expected to decrease over time, switching to more environmentally friendly and sustainable sources. For this reason, the technology that has emerged recently is "carbon capture," which aims to capture and store up to 90 percent of carbon emissions, and "green hydrogen" which utilizes renewable sources.

And most recently, there is a startup in the United States that offers innovations for the production of “green steel” without the need for hydrogen. It stated that Boston Metal applied a technology known as “Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE)” to convert iron ore into liquid metal with electricity from renewable sources.

For business activists like Liwa Supriyanti, director of Gunung Prisma, based on the diverse needs of all partners, it also builds awareness of the growing popularity and development of green steel, making it a lever for existing expertise to meet these needs, so that there is a greener future.

Together with Gunung Prisma, Liwa Supriyanti also mobilized the spirit of ESG by carrying out social activities for the community in several areas, including the construction of bridges and health centers.