Kinam Kim, Senior Green Steel Strategist
2025.07.29
The K-pop group aespa recently made a dazzling comeback by releasing the music video for their new song “Dirty Work.” The response from K-pop fans has been enthusiastic. My eyes and ears were thoroughly delighted as well. I expect the song to be a success.
What caught my attention, as someone who views the world through the lens of “climate,” was the backdrop of the video: Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin Steelworks. In other words: one of the main steelmaking plants where Hyundai Steel produces, well… steel. The very idea of shooting a music video at a steel mill was unique. While the fresh approach felt exciting, I couldn’t help but worry as I watched the members perform inside the dome where iron ore — the material that’s then melted at extremely high temperatures to turn into steel — is stored: “There must be a lot of iron ore dust in there; isn’t that bad for their respiratory health?”
I don’t know why they chose a steel mill as the filming location, but the moment the space overlapped with the song’s title, my professional instincts kicked in. Could there be a bigger message? In English, a steel mill is called a “steelworks,” and here they are shouting “dirty”! “Dirty” is actually one of the words most used in the climate space when talking about industrial processes—think of phrases like “dirty coal.”
Since the topic has come up, let’s take a closer look: Is Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin Steelworks really a “dirtyworks”? As I read the company’s 2025 sustainability report , that lyric kept echoing in my head.
First of all, in 2024, there was zero use of renewable energy throughout the year. According to the report, there was no renewable energy use in 2022 or 2023 either, placing the company at the very bottom among major global steelmakers. The situation didn’t change in 2024. On a small scale, however, they did complete an 11.6MW solar power facility in Korea and secured a 14GWh renewable power supply contract in the U.S., so there may be some improvement in the numbers next year.
Next, Hyundai Steel’s greenhouse gas emissions actually increased in 2024. The sustainability report states that the total for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions was about 35.1 million tons, up 2 million tons from the previous year. The company has pledged to cut emissions by 12% by 2030. And yet with just under five years left to reach that deadline, their emissions are still increasing rather than decreasing.
Finally, the carbon intensity per ton of steel produced has also worsened. In 2024, 1.45 tons of greenhouse gases were emitted per ton of steel, up from 1.36 tons in 2021.
This all matters because the steel industry contributes massively to global emissions. In Korea, the biggest greenhouse gas emitters are power companies and steelmakers. Hyundai Steel is Korea’s second largest steel producer, and therefore is one of the country’s — and the world’s — biggest polluters. The company has promised to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, but the data in its sustainability report, as we have seen, shows that emissions are actually rising.
The chorus of aespa’s song keeps ringing in my head: “dirty work…”The K-pop group may not have intended it, but their music video puts a spotlight on an industry that heavily, and urgently, needs cleaning up.
This isn’t something that can be fixed overnight — but the technology to clean up the industry does exist. What we need is for steelmakers like Hyundai Steel, and the companies that purchase steel from them to make their products — like carmakers — to invest in the transition to clean technology that does not burn coal in order to produce this material.
I saw that in April 2025, the CDP Korea Committee named Hyundai Steel an excellent company in climate change response and gave it the Raw Materials Carbon Management Sector Honors — what does that even mean? Again, “dirty work” passes through my mind. We cannot afford to let this industry, and its biggest players, continue to pollute our planet and put our futures at risk, unscrutinized.
Join us in making sure “dirty work” does not become Hyundai Steel’s legacy.
