Alison Kuznitz
State House News Service

A green steel company that Gov. Maura Healey lauded amid the state's competitive push into the climate tech sector plans to lay off dozens of workers.

The Woburn-headquartered company that produces steel without carbon emissions and extracts metals from mining waste will terminate 71 employees on March 14, according to a recent notice filed with the state.

Boston Metal's manufacturing facility in Brazil had an "unforeseen critical equipment failure" on Jan. 30 that prevented the company "from meeting a key operational milestone tied to a pending financing transaction," a spokesperson said.

"As a result, we lost access to committed capital essential to supporting our operations in both Brazil and the U.S," the spokesperson said. "The unanticipated loss of financing required immediate action to preserve cash and ensure the continuity of the broader business."

Healey toured Boston Metal's Woburn facility in April 2024, as she promoted an economic bill that ultimately invested $400 million into climate tech initiatives. By June at the ClimaTech global conference in Boston, Healey name-dropped Boston Metal in front of more than 300 clean energy experts and investors.

"So imagine this, steel was first invented in this country -- in Massachusetts, not in Pittsburgh, but right here in Saugus, Massachusetts in 1640," the governor said. "Well today, we have a company, Boston Metal, that's about producing green steel -- super cool, that can be used globally."

Massachusetts has experienced a spate of big layoffs recently, raising fresh concerns about the state's competitive edge as officials also grapple to handle affordability challenges in housing, health care and energy.

Some 4,600 payroll jobs were added in December, with the state logging an unemployment rate of 4.8%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said last month. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn't released a schedule yet for monthly state unemployment and job estimates, an EOWLD spokesperson told the News Service.