Companhia Siderurgica Nacional

Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) is a major integrated steel producer in Brazil, an industry that is inherently carbon-intensive. Available data indicates the company's Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions were approximately 15.2 million tCO2e in 2024. This emissions profile places CSN among the higher-emitting entities within the global steel sector, a peer group where leadership on climate transition is critically assessed.

While CSN publicly states it invests in efforts to reduce emissions and adopted an innovative technology to cut fossil fuel consumption in late 2024, its overall climate policy engagement is assessed as limited and mixed. The company does not have publicly available, comprehensive data on its full carbon footprint, including Scope 3 emissions, which are material for a steelmaker. This lack of transparent disclosure makes peer-relative performance evaluation difficult and indicates emissions governance may not be treated with the centrality required for the sector.

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) is among 40 companies held responsible for contamination at the Maryland Sand, Gravel and Stone Superfund Site in Elkton, Maryland. From 1969 to 1974, industrial waste—including processing water, sludge, and hazardous waste drums—was disposed of at this former quarry, leading to a chemical waste fire in 1974. The disposal resulted in high levels of contaminants, including benzene, chlorobenzene, 1,4-dioxane, and vinyl chloride, in the site's soil and groundwater.

The site was added to the EPA's Superfund list in 1984. Under a 2026 consent decree approved by the federal district court in Baltimore, CSN and the other settling defendants are required to complete the third and final phase of the EPA-supervised cleanup. This phase, estimated to cost $23.5 million, involves excavating and treating contaminated soil and expanding the groundwater treatment system. An additional $7 million may be required to address 1,4-dioxane contamination. Total cleanup costs for the 150-acre site may exceed $50 million, with past activities having already cost $20.7 million.