Automaker Case Study

Lowering an EV's Environmental Impact Before its First Mile

A major auto manufacturer partnered with Nucor to produce its first luxury electric vehicle with Econiq net-zero steel, significantly reducing Scope 3 emissions and bringing the manufacturer closer to its goal of carbon neutrality by 2040.

Road vehicles account for nearly 15% of total global CO₂ emissions today and are the fastest-growing source of emissions worldwide.¹ While electric vehicle adoption is accelerating, the auto industry needs to rapidly decarbonize its supply chains if it is to meet the 1.5°C climate goal set out in the Paris Agreement.

One Nucor customer—a major auto manufacturer—is leading the charge for comprehensive decarbonization. As a signatory of the UN’s Business Ambition Pledge for 1.5°C, the automaker challenged itself to reach a series of ambitious sustainability goals, including a significant reduction in Scope 3 emissions from its vehicle production by 2035, and a commitment to achieving carbon neutrality in its products and operations by 2040.

Image of automotive production line assembling steel car frame

In order to help companies like this meet their sustainability goals, Nucor launched Econiq™, the first line of net-zero steel products at scale. Econiq certification can be applied to any product from Nucor’s steel mills and signifies that the product has been produced using electricity from 100% renewable sources (eliminating Scope 2 emissions) and by purchasing carbon offsets (eliminating Scope 1 emissions).

Nucor’s steelmaking process relies on recycling-based electric arc furnace (EAF) technology. Nucor is a leading pioneer in this circular process, which has an emissions intensity that is less than one-third the global average of extractive steelmaking methods using blast furnaces for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.