Cleveland-Cliffs Announces New Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Goals

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) announced today that it has set new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. The Company’s prior commitment to reduce absolute Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) GHG emissions by 25% by 2030, relative to 2017 levels, has already been successfully achieved well ahead of schedule.

Cleveland-Cliffs’ new goals set forth below, relative to 2023 levels, are all supported by ongoing and planned technological developments to its ironmaking and steelmaking practices:

• A target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions intensity per metric ton of crude steel by 30% by 2035;
• A target to reduce material upstream Scope 3 GHG emissions intensity per metric ton of crude steel by 20% by 2035; and
• A long-term target aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees Celsius scenario to reduce Scope 1, 2 and material upstream 3 emissions intensity per metric ton of crude steel to near net zero by 2050.

The GHG emissions reduction from 2023 to 2035 will be driven primarily by the Middletown, OH and Butler, PA projects – both to be developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, as previously announced – as well as by other operational initiatives and energy efficiency enhancement projects, all included in Cliffs’ previously announced capital expenditure plans. As a result, Cliffs’ capex outlook remains unchanged.

Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer said:

“Through the deployment of meaningful investments and our unwavering commitment to our employees and to the communities in which we operate, Cleveland-Cliffs has achieved unquestionable success in reducing GHG emissions, by more than we anticipated and way ahead of our original 2030 target date. Our outperformance has given us the ability to further pursue more ambitious and very relevant new challenges. As a manufacturing leader in America providing good paying middle-class jobs in sustainable ironmaking and steelmaking, Cleveland-Cliffs will, one more time, prove that GHG emissions reduction can and will be done preserving employment, enhancing middle-class and benefiting communities. That is our ultimate goal: to demonstrate to others in our business – in the United States and abroad – that we can be simultaneously a technological and a social leader, with goals driven by our people and for the people. Once it is done, Cliffs’ shareholders and all other stakeholders will have won together.”

About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. Founded in 1847 as a mine operator, Cliffs also is the largest manufacturer of iron ore pellets in North America. The Company is vertically integrated from mined raw materials, direct reduced iron, and ferrous scrap to primary steelmaking and downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America and serves a diverse range of other markets due to its comprehensive offering of flat-rolled steel products. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs employs approximately 28,000 people across its operations in the United States and Canada.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding our goals to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, are forward-looking statements. We caution investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, including our ability to meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals in the expected timeframes or at all, to differ from those described in forward-looking statements are the following: impacts of existing and increasing governmental regulation, including potential environmental regulations relating to climate change and carbon emissions, and related costs and liabilities, including failure to receive or maintain required operating and environmental permits, approvals, modifications or other authorizations of, or from, any governmental or regulatory authority and costs related to implementing improvements to ensure compliance with regulatory changes, including potential financial assurance requirements, and reclamation and remediation obligations; potential impacts to the environment or exposure to hazardous substances resulting from our operations; the risk that the cost or time to implement any strategic or sustaining capital project, including any project intended to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, may prove to be greater than originally anticipated; uncertainties associated with our ability to meet customers' and suppliers' decarbonization goals and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with our own announced targets, including those announced in this release; and challenges to maintaining our social license to operate with our stakeholders, including the impacts of our operations on local communities, reputational impacts of operating in a carbon-intensive industry that produces greenhouse gas emissions, and our ability to foster a consistent operational and safety track record. Forward-looking and other statements in this release regarding our greenhouse gas reduction plans and goals are not an indication that these statements are necessarily material to investors or required to be disclosed. In addition, historical, current and forward-looking greenhouse gas-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve and assumptions that are subject to change in the future.

For additional factors affecting the business of Cliffs, refer to Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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