Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Cleveland, has released its "Sustainability Report 2021," detailing its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Earlier this year, the company reported through its annual financial filings that it achieved all-time annual records in revenues, net income, adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and free cash flow.
“Cleveland-Cliffs has built a strong legacy of sustainable business practices,” says Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs' president and CEO. “In the midst of dynamic market changes, our commitment to earning and protecting our social license to operate remains constant and is a critical component of our long-term business strategy.”
The report was developed with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative Standards and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Standards and references important tenets of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, the company says. It also highlights how the company’s business activities contribute to achieving progress on several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Cliffs reports an increased consumption of scrap and success of using hot briquetted iron, or HBI, in its furnaces to reduce coke rate, enhance productivity and quality and stretch hot metal production. The end result led to an overall reduction in carbon intensity per ton in 2021.
The report also discusses its Ferrous Processing and Trading Co. (FPT) operations, which Cliffs acquired last year. The company says the acquisition assisted in securing substantial prime scrap to create a closed loop steel recycling program. FPT operates 22 scrap processing facilities, with about 90 percent of revenue originating from its Midwest locations, primarily in Michigan and Ohio.
However, the report also shows that the company’s emissions increased year over year primarily because of a return to higher production levels from the production impacts in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Cliffs produced 34.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, an increase from the 32.2 metric tons produced in 2020.
The report also discusses the partnership the company formed with the U.S. Department of Energy for emissions reduction and energy efficiency initiatives. For example, Cliffs says it is working on a project to develop steel alloys to reduce core losses in electric motors suitable for a wide range of applications. This includes large industrial fans or in-wheel motors in transportation systems. The aim is for the new electrical steel to be nearly 40 percent more efficient when compared to commercially available nonoriented electrical steel.
Cleveland Cliffs also is conducting alloy design, lab validation, manufacturing and testing of novel low-density steels that possess mechanical properties exhibited by advanced high-strength steels. The goal of this project is to develop novel alloying and processing strategies for the commercialization of steels with significantly lower density using existing manufacturing facilities.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ report is accessible in the sustainability section of the company’s corporate website, where a printable PDF version of the report also is available.
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