The movement has certainly gained traction in recent years. Government commitment to sustainability at both the federal and state level has been a primary driver historically, and this still has an impact today. Investors also are increasingly considering sustainability a requirement, and sustainability drives more customer decisions than ever before. It is worth noting that we do not limit our scope of competition to other steel and tube producers. We consider alternative materials to steel as a significant threat to our business, and many of these are also striving for sustainable solutions. We are paying a lot of attention to this.

Sustainability has been a core value of Nucor’s since its inception in the 1960s. We like to say Nucor was green before it was “cool” to be green. As it relates to Nucor Tubular Products (NTP), we view sustainability as a competitive advantage in the tubular market—it is something that sets us apart. All our raw materials are supplied 100 percent by our domestic sheet mills, and all of these mills make steel by recycling scrap using electric arc furnace (EAF) technology. In fact, Nucor is the largest recycler in North America.

Yes, we find it very important to capture the carbon footprint of all our products downstream, including our tubular products. So far, we are the only tube producer in the United States to capture this information in facility-specific environmental product declarations (EPDs), which allow specifiers to quantify how much lower our global warming potential is than the industry average. You can find these facility-specific documents at nucor.com/sustainability.

Yes, sustainability is absolutely a team effort, and we certainly consider this when evaluating customers and partners. Of course, our customers must value sustainability for our sustainability to matter to them. Nucor Tubular Products has already recognized the benefits of collaborating with companies that are committed to providing sustainable product solutions. Our participation in the renewables space, specifically our growing commitment to supplying the solar market, is a perfect example of that.

We do not foresee a future where sustainability is no longer important. As a company, we are committed to continuing to reduce our greenhouse gas intensity, which is currently 72 percent less than today’s global steelmaking average. We also remain committed to innovating and finding ways to improve our footprint throughout the supply chain. Email the NTP team at construction@nucor.com for more information about sustainability of HSS, standard pipe, sprinkler pipe or conduit.