I am pleased to present GrafTech’s 2021 Sustainability Report. As we continue to progress through
our
sustainability journey, we are excited to share our environmental, social, and governance ("ESG")
performance,
accomplishments, and contributions towards the decarbonization of steel.
For more than 100 years, GrafTech has been manufacturing graphite electrode products that are
essential to the production of electric arc furnace ("EAF") steel. EAF steel production is a critical
part of the circular economy – producing a product that can be continually recycled and is
generated almost entirely from recycled scrap metal. EAF steelmaking is more environmentally
friendly than blast furnace steelmaking, generating significantly less carbon dioxide emissions
compared to a blast furnace facility.
GrafTech’s success is only possible with the hard work of our global team and their commitment
in upholding our core values of Safety, Environment, and Quality, what we internally refer to as
“SEQ.” These values focus our attention on a core mission for GrafTech: providing a safe
work environment for all employees, environmental stewardship, and delivering superior product
quality.
We are committed to health and safety excellence and promoting the well-being of our people. We
continuously strive to improve our safety performance by focusing on programs and initiatives that
hold all employees—from executives to the plant floor—accountable for keeping everyone
safe, every day. I am very proud of the dedication of our team as we work to reach our ultimate goal
of every employee going home safely every day.
Overall, we are proud of the progress we made across the organization towards our ESG initiatives in
2021. In addition to our safety initiatives, we undertook activities as varied as our community
involvement and outreach efforts at several of our sites, our use of captured heat to reduce our
fuel consumption, and our emission reduction efforts that include capital investments and advanced
engineering technology on the equipment at our sites. Using these projects as a roadmap, we are
fully committed to advancing these efforts across our global organization.
We are utilizing the materiality assessment we completed in 2021 to help us build the foundation and
strategy of our future sustainability work. A key component of our strategy is to drive
sustainability performance and increase transparency on ESG issues.
As always, I welcome your questions and comments on our sustainability efforts and look forward to
engaging with you on these topics as we move forward.
Sincerely,
Marcel Kessler, Chief Executive Officer