Sustainable Case Study: United States Steel Corporation

Abstract

Overall, the North American Steel Industry has made significant strides to protect our environment and preserve our resources by: reducing overall energy consumption per ton of steel by 29% since 1990; reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (including CO2) by more than 25% from 1994 thru 2003; reducing air toxics volumes by more than 70% from 1994 thru 2003, and total air & water discharges by 69%; collecting and reusing of steel making by products such as: slag for road building, railroad ballasts, fertilizer, glassmaking, & other applications; coke oven & steel making gases for fuel/heat generation; increased steel manufacturing efficiencies now result in the production of 100 units of steel from 114 units of raw steel vs. 140 units previously, which has resulted in a yield improvement of 16% to 87% from 71%. These statistics indicate that the industry is doing an efficient job improving the environment in such a short span of time. Recently, United States Steel Corporation has been taking strides to improving sustainability within its corporation. Originally, U.S. Steel has always been a company that prides itself on good business practices. Today, they are taking further steps by incorporating sustainable measures to fit the trend developing in society. This is a study devoted to evaluating U.S. Steel’s current successes and failures regarding their recent sustainability practices.