Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Ranks 23rd in Maplecroft Index for Climate Change Leaders

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CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) announced today it was named to the Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CII) as a Maplecroft CII Benchmark and Maplecroft CII Leader.

In the Climate Innovation Index Benchmark, Cliffs ranked 23rd among the 350 U.S. companies evaluated for climate-related innovation and carbon management programs. The Company also was rated 23rd in the CII Leader category, a ranking of the top 100 performing companies from the Maplecroft CII Benchmark.

Maplecroft, based in the United Kingdom, is a research and consulting company that reports on sustainability-related risks. A total of 350 companies were rated against 100 performance-based criteria. These criteria include the capacity to generate innovative new technologies or initiatives that capitalize on climate-related market opportunities; the management of climate change through policies, disclosure, targets, verification and supply chain processes; the mitigation of carbon emissions; adaptation by modeling future climate impacts and changing company operations and strategy; and reductions in overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

"It is an honor for Cliffs to be recognized and ranked by Maplecroft in the top 6% of companies evaluated for climate innovation and carbon management programs," said Kelly Tompkins, executive vice president, legal, government affairs and sustainability of Cliffs. "We receive this recognition ever mindful of the Company's longstanding commitment to the principles of sustainability, which have served us well for more than 163 years. As the Company continues its growth in the international mining and natural resources industry, we remain committed to developing sustainable solutions in the communities where we operate."

In its evaluation, Maplecroft cited Cliffs' commitment to improving its footprint in the areas of energy use and GHG emissions. The Company has developed a GHG strategic plan to further develop these commitments and has assessment criteria and metrics evaluation for its suppliers that include ISO 14001 certification, commitment to reduce environmental and biodiversity impacts, tracking environmental impact of products and measuring the effect on natural resources.

According to the Maplecroft report, companies that lead in climate-related innovation also deliver higher financial performance (measured as five-year return on equity, based on Bloomberg data). Earlier this year, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. was listed ninth in Bloomberg Businessweek's inaugural '50 Top Performers' list, which ranks U.S. corporations with the highest total returns for shareholders in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index over the past five years.

Companies included in the CIIs were rated during the period April 2010 to July 2010. The Maplecroft CIIs were launched in January 2010 on the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL(R) service.

To be added to Cliffs Natural Resources' e-mail distribution list, please click on the link below:

http://www.cpg-llc.com/clearsite/clf/emailoptin.html

About Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is an international mining and natural resources company. A member of the S&P 500 Index, we are the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of high and low volatile metallurgical coal. With core values of environmental and capital stewardship, our colleagues across the globe endeavor to provide all stakeholders operating and financial transparency as embodied in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Our Company is organized through three geographic business units:

The North American business unit is comprised of six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Canada and six coal mines located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit is comprised of two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The Latin American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapa in Brazil.

Other projects under development include a biomass production plant in Michigan and Ring of Fire chromite properties in Ontario, Canada. Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at:

http://www.cliffsnaturalresources.com or

www.cliffsnaturalresources.com/Investors/Pages/default.aspx?b=1041&1=1 


    Source: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Released October 25, 2010