City of Cleveland’s Climate Goals Require Green Steel, Report Finds
Cleveland ultimately wants the city to produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The City of Cleveland’s long-term climate plans are dependent on the future of a Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill on the city’s south side, a report from an environmental advocacy nonprofit finds.
The Cleveland Works steel mill is a massive industrial facility that turns raw iron ore into steel, a metal used to make cars, tools and buildings. The process relies on a form of coal, a fossil fuel that releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the air when burned.
Cleveland ultimately wants the city to produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The Cleveland Works is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties combined, according to the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA). Emissions from the steel mill made up about 30% of Cleveland’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to EPA data and the city’s Climate Action Plan. In 2023, that increased to 47% of the city’s emissions after the steel mill returned to pre-pandemic emission levels, according to Industrious Labs. Industrious Labs is a nonprofit that advocates for emissions reductions in heavy industry.
The city’s “goal is to get to net zero,” said Hilary Lewis, the director of steel research at Industrious Labs. “ …If you’re not addressing 47% of the pollution, you’re never going to get to zero.”
Both the City of Cleveland and larger regional planning organizations such as NOACA are reckoning with the challenge of bringing down industrial emissions, according to their climate action plans. A recently released draft of NOACA’s Comprehensive Climate Action Plan writes that efforts to decarbonize steelmaking are “essential” to the City of Cleveland.
Courtesy: www.signalcleveland.org