The American steel sector is recognized as having the steepest decline of total emissions among nine manufacturing sectors studied in the just-released U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2008 Sector Performance Report. The report notes that the steel industry reached a 67% decline of total normalized and absolute air emissions between 1996-2005 while production levels remained relatively steady. The EPA report analyzed manufacturers of cement, chemicals, food and beverages, forest products, metal castings, paint and coatings, refined petroleum, ships, and iron and steel.

The American steel industry has also been showing leadership on the subject of energy efficiency and CO2 mitigation for two decades. By deploying new steelmaking technologies, the industry has reduced energy per ton of steel produced by 29% since 1990, the Kyoto benchmark year.