Nucor turns up volume on decarbonization effort

Nucor Corp. has launched a campaign called “Made for Good” that highlights the company’s 50-plus years of "producing steel using the cleanest methods commercially available.”

Nucor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, says the campaign also will showcase its work with customers in a broad range of industries to help them achieve sustainability goals as well as the sustainability goals of the U.S.

The electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker relies on ferrous scrap for a majority of the feedstock in its furnaces. Additionally, the company buys and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap at its network of David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ) scrap yards, which it purchased in 2008.

”Sustainability is being driven by our customers’ values and focus on reducing emissions in their supply chains,” says Dan Needham, executive vice president at Nucor. “As a steel industry leader, Nucor recognizes the importance of environmental stewardship and continuously challenges ourselves to reduce our emissions even more. Through purposeful innovation, Nucor is providing not just steel but solutions that empower our customers to meet their business and environmental goals successfully."

Nucor says it is among the world’s most sustainable steel producers, making more than one-quarter of the steel produced in the United States annually. The company describes itself as a leading pioneer in using a circular, recycling-based manufacturing process with an emissions intensity that is more than three times lower than the average of blast furnace-based steel producers.

Nucor says it is dedicated to further reducing its carbon footprint through innovation and was the first industrial company to join the United Nations 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact, which is aimed at accelerating the decarbonization of the world’s electricity systems and ensuring access to clean and affordable electricity.

“Made for Good” will publicize the company’s recent achievements in sustainability and decarbonization. The campaign will include case studies portraying Nucor’s investments in technologies, such as small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear systems; fusion; Nucor’s involvement in reducing embodied carbon emissions in mass-market consumer vehicles; and Nucor’s own innovations, such as Elcyon, which says is the first domestically produced sustainable steel product for offshore wind energy applications.

“For more than 50 years, Nucor has been pioneering circular steelmaking and building a resilient and environmentally sustainable future,” says Peter Campbell, director of marketing at Nucor. “This campaign focuses on our dedication to building processes and investing in efficient systems that positively impact the world. The goal of Made for Good is to shape that sustainability narrative and uniquely capture Nucor’s position as an essential partner in constructing a greener tomorrow.”

In addition to its sustainable steelmaking leadership, Nucor says it has engaged in policy conversations to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions within the industry. The company is a founding member of the Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC), which has developed a Steel Climate Standard.

Nucor has partnered with Lippincott, a global creative consultancy, to generate the campaign, and Luquire, a marketing and public relations agency, to place advertisements.

Nucor operates steelmaking and downstream fabrication facilities in North America and, through Cincinnati-based DJJ and its affiliates, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals, pig iron and hot-briquetted iron (HBI) and direct-reduced iron (DRI).