Resource Intensity vs. Investment in Production Installations—The Case of the Steel Industry in Poland

Włodzimierz Sroka,Bożena Gajdzik

doi:10.3390/en14020443

Abstract

Resource intensity is a measure of the resources needed for the production, processing and disposal of good or services. Its level decides on the costs the companies have to bear both for production and for environmental protection, which in turn have a crucial importance for their competitiveness. Given these facts, our study analyses the issues of resource intensity in the Polish steel industry in correlation to investments made, and more specifically, to the impact of investments on the consumption of energy media used during steel production. Its key element is the development of econometric models presenting the impact of investments on resource consumption in steel production in Poland. Electricity and coke consumption were analysed according to manufacturing installation. The research was carried out on the basis of statistical data for the period of 2004–2018. The obtained findings confirmed the impact of the increase in investment on the decrease in the resource intensity in steel production in Poland. These facts have implications for both policy makers, as they confirm the thesis on a direct correlation between investments in technology and a reduction in resource intensity (environmental protection), as well as company managers. In the case of the latter, the data show the actions which companies should focus on in their activities.

Highlights

Environmental pollution and climate changes are two of the main problems we all face and manufacturing companies are responsible for most of the harmful substances released into the environment [1,2,3,4]
The goal of our study is to analyse the resource intensity in the Polish steel industry in correlation to completed investments, especially the impact of investments on the consumption of energy media used in steel production processes
One can say that there is no doubt that the investments made in the steel industry in Poland after the transformation of the political system in the 1990s allowed the industry to reduce energy consumption by eliminating outmoded production capacity and implementing energy-saving technologies

Summary

Introduction

Environmental pollution and climate changes are two of the main problems we all face and manufacturing companies are responsible for most of the harmful substances released into the environment [1,2,3,4]. The assumptions of the circular (green) economy that aims to reduce waste (and minimise costs) and to redefine sustainable development are more and more important [11,12,13,14]. It relates to all the sectors, and especially to the steel industry which is among those that have the highest negative impact on the environment

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Discussion

Conclusion