Talking to Joe Woodruff: How ResponsibleSteel can drive member engagement and global collaboration

Joe Woodruff joined ResponsibleSteel a few months ago as our new Head of Membership and Communications and is already working to set a new standard for member and stakeholder engagement. With his experiences in previous sustainability standards organisations, Joe brings a fresh perspective on how ResponsibleSteel can continue to deliver value to members and drive change in the industry through transparency, collaboration and mutual commitment.

1. You have extensive experience working in sustainability standards organisations, please tell us a bit about yourself.?

My work in sustainability standards really began over a decade ago, when I joined an organisation called Bonsucro , which is the leading organisation for sustainability in sugarcane. It's very similar in set-up to ResponsibleSteel, in that it's a global sustainability standard with multistakeholder membership and governance.

I found the challenges of working on one of the world’s most important crops fascinating, especially the possibility of supporting the livelihoods and wellbeing of millions of people around the world through a standard system. Subsequent roles at the Rainforest Alliance and Better Cotton continued this thread.??

In all of these organisations, communications and member engagement have been the common denominators in my roles – for a long time I’ve been interested in how to take complex topics and turn them into something accessible, appealing and compelling.??

Some of the best moments from my time in standards so far have come through in-person engagement, and I’ve been lucky to have had a hand in organising some spectacular conferences around the world too.???

2.?What attracted you to ResponsibleSteel??

It was the opportunity to apply my knowledge and experience from my previous roles to a sector that has come a long way in the last few years but still has quite a way to go in terms of being considered sustainable. I think that the steel industry is unique in many ways, but in many other ways, it can learn a lot from other industries that have been more active (and had more scrutiny) on their ESG progress.?

ResponsibleSteel has achieved a lot since it was set up, but there's a lot more to be done and the ability to influence the organisation’s direction was a really exciting prospect.??

3.?How do you plan to improve ResponsibleSteel’s communication and collaboration with members and stakeholders??

I think the saying “if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter” is really relevant when trying to talk about sustainability in steel, especially when talking about complex technical subjects such as decarbonisation. It’s very easy to hide behind very technically detailed, long explanations. But the difficulty comes when you need to condense these details into something that is accessible, understandable and talks in plain language. If you can get that right, getting people to collaborate with you and support your mission becomes a lot easier.??

We also have such a diversity in our membership – there are all sorts of companies and organisations that have joined ResponsibleSteel over the past few years. We want to do more to build on their expertise, share their learnings with other members, and celebrate successes.?

4. Where do you think the biggest opportunities are for growth as a membership organisation???

As I mentioned before, we have a really strong group of members already, representing all aspects of the steel industry and beyond. That said, there are some countries and regions that are under-represented, and we will be carrying out a lot of outreach over the next 6-8 months. There’s also a lot of scope to work with like-minded international and regional organisations to highlight ResponsibleSteel via their own networks.?

5. What value do you think ResponsibleSteel gives to our members???

It varies. As our membership is drawn from all over the steel industry and from further afield, the value that different companies and organisations get from membership differs depending on their business.

Steelmaking members are able to make use of our Production Standard as a holistic ESG framework for better business, and our assurance programme to demonstrate this in a credible way. Upstream companies can join to be part of a network that includes their steelmaking customers, and to contribute to our work on responsible sourcing. Companies downstream from steelmaking, including end users of steel, benefit from being part of a network that includes their steel suppliers, and the upcoming Chain of Custody Standard will support their sourcing and trading of ResponsibleSteel Certified Steel, along with the ability to make public claims. Civil society organisations are key to the development of our standards, and as members, can provide valuable input into this process. ?

More generally though, members can shape the future of our international standards and participate in working groups (we have a few different ones already, and are looking to increase them). We have regular member webinars to explore different aspects of sustainability in steel and plan engagement events throughout the year. Members also have the opportunity to steer the organisation through our Board of Directors.?In short, by joining ResponsibleSteel, organisations can contribute to our work and demonstrate their commitment to a positive future for the steel industry.