Building a green steel market

The popularity of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) introduced in 1999 has resulted in thousands of buildings constructed or renovated with energy- and resource-saving aspects at the forefront.

In 2024, property owners or developers engaged in more than 1,400 LEED projects in the 10 states where the certification was the most popular, equaling more than 414 million gross square feet of structural space, according to the Washington-based USGBC.

A LEED project scorecard contains numerous ways to accumulate points as participants seek to attain certification, including the procurement and use of low-carbon construction materials.

For operators of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills that consume recycled feedstock, that has provided a welcome source of demand from the construction sector for steel products made in low-carbon EAF facilities.

A market well-served

For several types of steel commonly used in construction applications, recycled EAF production is not off to the side on the menu—it dominates the selections.

“All wide-flange (and most high-speed steel and structural plate) made in the U.S. comes out of an electric arc furnace, which uses electricity to melt cars, refrigerators, decommissioned bridges and buildings and other scrap into new steel without any loss of quality,” says Brian Raff, vice president at the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC).

By the time the USGBC introduced its LEED scorecard in 1999, steelmakers like Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc., Gerdau and CMC already were raising EAF-made steel’s market share in the U.S., with that subsector thriving while blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) producers often struggled financially.

“Reducing steel’s carbon footprint isn’t just the right thing to do, it also makes economic sense,” Raff says. “Members have invested in EAFs not only because they are less carbon-intensive but [also] because they are more efficient than other steelmaking alternatives.

“The American steel industry has a strong record of providing low-carbon steel and far outpaces global competitors on this front. Currently, structural steel includes 92 percent recycled content, demonstrating the strength on both the producer and demand side of America’s recycled steel content.”

Steel imported from other countries remains an option for construction project managers—and this was especially true before tariffs were introduced in 2025—but the LEED system helps steer some buyers toward domestic steel.

Recycled EAF production gives U.S. producers a competitive edge over other competitors in the global steel market, according to Raff.

“For example, Chinese steel used in American construction projects has three times the global warming potential of American steel,” he says. “The reality is that when specifiers require domestically produced structural steel, they’re already getting some of the cleanest steel in the world whether they want it or not. It’s just how we make structural steel in the United States, using recycled steel as the foundational input for new steel members.”

Transparency provided

A certification system, much like a government regulatory regimen, can be considered only as good as the information it relies on and the ability to enforce adherence rather than rely on the good faith of those involved.

According to Raff, recycled EAF steelmaking offers obvious environmental benefits compared with the mining-intensive BF-BOF production method.

“EAF steel also doesn’t have the environmental impacts associated with mining or coke production,” he says. “Through recycling, EAF steelmaking uses scrap steel available to bypass the polluting step of processing raw materials necessary for the BF-BOF process. With less than half the energy demands and no need to make pig iron first, the EAF steelmaking process produces, on a global average, 75 percent less emitted CO2 than BF-BOF steelmaking.

“With scrap-based EAF steelmaking, most of the embodied carbon comes from electricity usage.”

Raff also notes that some mills will produce steel with lower embodied carbon by virtue of being connected to a grid that is powered by renewable energy.

As mentioned in the name “electric arc furnace,” EAF mills cannot avoid using electricity. However, mill operators can make changes to their energy portfolios that can reduce their carbon footprints even while relying on electricity.

Raff points to a recent announcement by Gerdau to build an 80-megawatt solar field adjacent to its facility in Midlothian, Texas, as one such step.

In 2023, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. announced a power purchase agreement for 250 megawatts of energy from Sebree Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources LLC. Sebree Solar is a solar power installation in Henderson County, Kentucky.

Regarding the EAF sector’s overall environmental performance, Raff says a more detailed way to examine a mill’s emission performance is through environmental product declarations (EPDs).

“The structural steel industry, through AISC’s efforts, demonstrates a high level of data transparency and coverage regarding EPDs,” he says. “All U.S. structural steel mills produce facility-specific EPDs that clearly detail the carbon footprint associated with their steel production, offering a complete evaluation of the supply chain.”

According to Raff, all domestically produced hot-rolled section steel has 100 percent EPD coverage through mill-specific EPDs, while the steel industry as a whole can boast nearly 100 percent EPD coverage for structural steel products.

“This level of data transparency and availability for structural steel is unmatched by other construction materials like concrete and wood,” he says.

Steel emissions information is available in the EPD section of the ASIC website, where it also includes a bottom-line summary of facility-specific global warming potential values for structural steel produced within the U.S.

Tools to complete the job

Beyond the EPD information, AISC offers other programs designed to ensure buyers seeking low-carbon steel can be connected with the appropriate products.

For example, a document called “Specification Strategies for Structural Steel Embodied Carbon Reduction” contains strategies for specifying embodied carbon reductions associated with steel construction projects. The document is part of a wider Sustainability Designer Toolkit, which Raff says provides practical tools and knowledge for designing sustainable steel structures, including steel company and facility EPDs.

Raff describes the AISC’s Sustainability Toolkit for Owners as a road map for considerations owners and developers can consider when planning sustainable building projects. The toolkit includes guidance for programming decisions that affect sustainability, including lateral system selection and column layout; strategies for navigating global warming potential limits and embodied carbon policies; insights into mill and fabrication processes to inform procurement decisions aligned with rating system requirements; and real-world applications demonstrating how steel can meet aggressive carbon-reduction targets.

Additionally, the AISC’s Sustainability Partner Program recognizes and supports steel fabricators that are committed to sustainable practices, according to Raff, providing users with specialized training and resources to navigate sustainability-focused projects and implement carbon footprint reduction strategies.

“This initiative helps specifiers easily identify and collaborate with fabricators who prioritize environmental responsibility.”

These AISC features have been put in place in the expectation that saving energy and saving money—two benefits of EAF steelmaking—will continue to incentivize building project specifiers to seek out steel made with recycled content in EAFs beyond seeking a reduced carbon footprint.

“The demand for low-carbon steel is driven by demand from customers and from the realities of steel production,” Raff says. “AISC expects the demand for low-carbon steel to continue to increase, thereby driving further investments in cleaner production methods.”

The author is senior editor at the Recycling Today Media Group and can be reached at btaylor@gie.net.