循環性のためのブロックチェーン：鉄鋼サプライチェーンにおけるトレーサビリティ向上と体化炭素削減

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a quantitative framework linking blockchain traceability to circular steel recovery and embodied carbon reduction, useful for further empirical validation.

🏢実務担当者:Offers a decision-support tool for steel producers and construction firms to enhance scrap verification and circularity, potentially improving ESG reporting and supply chain accountability.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the potential of digital provenance systems to support circular economy policies and low-carbon industrial transitions, informing regulatory frameworks.

This study aims to develop and evaluate a blockchain-enabled traceability framework capable of improving circular steel recovery and reducing embodied carbon within Tata Steel’s supply chain. Blockchain technology is increasingly being explored as a digital enabler for circular economy practices and low-carbon industrial supply chains. In the steel sector, fragmented documentation systems, limited material traceability and inefficient scrap recovery mechanisms continue to constrain circularity and embodied carbon reduction, particularly within the Indian construction industry. Despite growing interest in blockchain-enabled traceability, limited research has examined its application within steel supply chains using a case-grounded and quantitatively modelled approach linking traceability improvements with circular steel recovery and embodied carbon reduction. A single-case explanatory research design combined with secondary-data-based scenario modelling was adopted using publicly available Tata Steel sustainability disclosures, industry benchmarks and validated emission factors. The proposed framework integrates QR/RFID-enabled batch identities, Internet of Things (IoT)-assisted verification systems, smart contracts and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted dashboard visualisations to model improvements in traceability and closed-loop recycling performance. Scenario modelling indicates that traceability coverage could improve from approximately 42% to 98%, while verified scrap reuse could increase from 60% to 88%. Using an emission avoidance factor of 1.35 tCO2 per tonne of recycled steel and a conservative annual scrap throughput assumption of 8.0 Mt, the framework estimates a feasibility-oriented embodied carbon reduction of approximately 3.0 MtCO2/year. The study proposes a Tata Steel-specific blockchain circularity framework demonstrating how digital provenance systems can strengthen transparent material governance, enhance circular steel recovery and support feasibility-oriented embodied carbon reduction pathways within industrial steel supply chains. The findings are based on secondary-data-driven scenario modelling and should therefore be interpreted as feasibility-oriented estimates rather than empirically validated operational outcomes. The framework provides a basis for future empirical assessment and sensitivity analysis under alternative industrial and policy conditions. The framework provides a conceptual decision-support approach for improving batch-level traceability, scrap verification, closed-loop recovery, environmental reporting and supply-chain accountability through blockchain-enabled systems. Improved material provenance and verification can strengthen transparency and accountability among supply-chain actors and support more trustworthy circular material governance.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.1177/29776570261474913first seen 2026-09-02 05:33:42 · last seen 2026-09-21 05:10:37