Nucor to supply Mercedes with recycled-content steel

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. has signed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz to supply Econiq-RE certified steel for vehicles produced at Mercedes’ Tuscaloosa, Alabama, manufacturing plant.

Nucor says its use of recycled scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF) technology at each of its 24 United States mills enables it to operate at a level 70 percent below the current average global greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity for the steel industry.

That low emissions level meets even the most aggressive emission intensity benchmarks that are part of the Paris Climate Agreement, the company adds.

In addition to its recycled content, Econiq-RE steel is made using what Nucor calls 100 percent renewable electricity and high-quality carbon offsets to negate any remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

“Nucor is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Mercedes-Benz as a strategic supplier of lower-embodied carbon steel, which will reduce carbon emissions throughout their supply chain,” says Dan Needham, executive vice president at Nucor.

“Our Econiq brand is helping steel end users meet their growth and sustainability goals, and we are proud that it is going to be a key piece of Mercedes-Benz’s path toward a net carbon-neutral new car fleet along the entire value chain.”

Nucor says that since its introduction in 2022, Econiq has led the global steel industry in certifying low-embodied carbon materials.

Buyers of the product can demonstrate that Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions can be reduced to less than half that of those compared with using what Nucor calls “extractive blast furnace-based steel production.”

Nucor also operates the David J. Joseph network of scrap yards. In addition to its EAF melt shops that produce steel bars, beams, sheet and plate, the firm has downstream business units that make hollow structural section tubing, electrical conduit, steel racking, steel pilings, steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, precision castings, steel fasteners, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, overhead doors, steel grating, wire and wire mesh and utility structures.