Community leaders to discuss modernization, investing in steel industry
The Indiana University Northwest Center for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE) is announcing a new initiative to convene community leaders to discuss modernizing and investing in the steel industry. Through a series of interviews and structured dialogues targeted to begin in December, the project will provide a venue for all voices to be heard.
Northwest Indiana’s integrated steel mills produce around 17 percent of all the steel made in the United States, making Northwest Indiana the country’s largest steelmaking region. Though the region’s steel industry is much smaller than it was at its peak, the steel industry remains a major employer and is important to the regional economy.
Steel production is responsible for roughly 7-9 percent of global CO2 emissions, largely due to its reliance on coal and traditional blast furnace processes. Regionally, the steel industry is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, as documented in a regional greenhouse gas inventory conducted by the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), using baseline data from 2017. In 2023, NIRPC finalized a newly added ‘Climate’ section to their 2050 Plan. This new initiative will help inform the region’s next steps.
By inviting community leaders to a series of conversations about approaches to decarbonizing steel, we seek to document the ideas being pursued to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of steel production and to learn what challenges remain to achieve that goal.
Indiana University Northwest interim Chancellor Vicki Román-Lagunas expressed excitement about the initiative.
“IU Northwest is proud to help lead the charge toward a more sustainable future for steel production, reducing environmental impact while upholding the high-quality standards the industry is known for,” Román-Lagunas said. “Conversations and collaborations like this underscore our campus’s commitment to our shared communities, as reflected in our Service to our State strategic priority.”
The project will be led by Ellen Szarleta, J.D., Ph.D., Director at IU Northwest’s Center for Urban and Regional Excellence, in partnership with Northwest Indiana consultant Kathy Sipple, who has been working on regional climate initiatives since 2019.
