Helping Our Customers Reach their Carbon Goals
CMC’s sustained commitment to reducing our carbon emissions allows us to supply products to our customers that meet and exceed their evolving needs regarding embodied carbon.
CMC offers steel, such as our newly launched RebarZero®, that provides more environmentally sound, high-quality construction solutions that reduce a project’s carbon footprint.
Manufacturing, transporting, installing, maintaining and disposing of building materials contribute to embodied carbon and energy—and a significant percentage of global GHG emissions. This is why continuous improvements and a focus on energy efficiency is important. The more efficient our steelmaking process is, the more options exist to reduce carbon emissions from our products and processes. There is a need to better understand and quantify embodied carbon across the lifecycle of products to meet both short and long-term goals, including those outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement. Because we are able to quantify the GHG savings, our products can contribute to a lower carbon infrastructure.
To provide greater visibility for the benefits of our products, we publish EPDs that disclose the environmental performance or potential impacts on the environment of our products. These are helpful to our customers as they seek to better understand the climate change impact of their purchasing choices.
On a 5-year cycle, CMC’s steel EPDs are drafted in accordance with ISO 21930 and ISO 14025 standards and verified by a third party
Currently, the embodied GHG emissions our steel products are lower than the U.S. steel manufacturing average, according to the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute. These and other factors have helped CMC win noteworthy contracts for LEED construction projects and LEED ratings for nearly 200 LEED projects.
Our Tensar Division also has conducted cradle-to-gate EPD assessments in the U.K. for our TriAx® geogrids. This third-party report, certified under ISO 14025, helps quantify the environmental impact of this product line during manufacturing. We have started the process of conducting cradle-to-grave EPD assessments for products manufactured in the U.S. and the U.K. These assessments will include product impact and performance during the customer-use phase of the product’s life cycle. This is especially relevant and useful in the EU and the U.K., where EPDs frequently are required for public and private projects.
