Gerdau Metaldom is recognized for using affordable and non-polluting energy

Our company was recognized for contributing a positive economic, social and environmental impact in the country and contributing to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with the business initiative "Change from fuel oil to natural gas in a furnace overheating".

This recognition, granted by the National Council for Private Enterprise (Conep) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), places us in the first edition of the Catalog of Promising Practices 2020, impacting objective 7 (affordable energy and non-polluting) and objective 12 (responsible production and consumption).

The initiative to change the fuel in the reheating furnace involved replacing the technology used in the lamination furnace to use natural gas instead of fuel oil as the main fuel.

Gerdau Metaldom is to date the main user of natural gas in the industrial sector in the Dominican Republic, excluding the players in the electricity generation sector.

These actions implied a reduction of 48% CO2 emissions from 2016 to 2018, as well as a significant improvement in the fuel consumption of the reheating furnace. The company saved almost 60 million pesos in operational and maintenance expenses during the first year of the initiative.