New report: How greater policy coherence can accelerate global steel decarbonisation
New report: How greater policy coherence can accelerate global steel decarbonisation
New report: How greater policy coherence can accelerate global steel decarbonisation
Steel is essential to modern economies, underpinning everything from buildings and transport to energy infrastructure and manufacturing. Yet the sector is also responsible for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making its decarbonisation a critical component of achieving global climate goals.
Today, ResponsibleSteel has published a new report, Global Steel Decarbonisation: From complexity to coherence, examining how fragmented policy frameworks are creating barriers to the transition to low-emission steelmaking.
Across the world, governments are introducing policies designed to reduce emissions from steel production while maintaining competitiveness, supporting jobs and strengthening industrial capacity. While these objectives are often aligned in principle, they are increasingly being pursued through separate and sometimes incompatible policy frameworks.
The result is a growing patchwork of regulations, reporting requirements, emissions methodologies and product classifications that can increase complexity for producers, create uncertainty for investors and make it more difficult for markets to recognise and reward genuine decarbonisation progress.
As Annie Heaton, CEO of ResponsibleSteel, explains:
“Right now, policy fragmentation is slowing down the very transition it is meant to accelerate. Greater alignment is entirely achievable, and essential, if we are to unlock investment and deliver steel decarbonisation at the pace required.”
A global review of steel decarbonisation policy
The report provides a global review of steel decarbonisation policy, with a particular focus on the European Union and India, two of the world's largest steel producers and consumer markets.
It examines the expanding mix of policies shaping the transition, including trade measures, sustainable finance frameworks, public procurement requirements, green steel labelling initiatives and ESG-related regulations.
For example, the report unpacks how
While policy activity is accelerating in both regions, the report finds that many frameworks are built on different foundations. Diverging definitions of low-emission steel, inconsistent emissions accounting methodologies and varying approaches to recycled steel content can create friction across markets and weaken investment signals.
From complexity to coherence
The report argues that governments do not need to start from scratch. Instead, greater policy coherence can be achieved through stronger alignment between existing standards, certification systems and data requirements.
To support this, the report identifies a number of practical actions that policymakers can take:
- Establish more consistent approaches to measuring and reporting steel emissions.
- Reduce duplicated reporting requirements through greater recognition of independently verified data across jurisdictions.
- Develop common approaches to accounting for recycled and primary steel content, including the use of scrap-variable metrics.
- Strengthen traceability through credible chain-of-custody systems across steel supply chains.
- Better integrate environmental, social and governance considerations into steel decarbonisation policy frameworks.
Together, these measures can help create more transparent and competitive markets for low-emission steel, reward producers making genuine progress on decarbonisation and support the investment needed to accelerate the transition.
Download the report
Global Steel Decarbonisation: From complexity to coherence explores these challenges and opportunities in greater detail, providing practical recommendations for policymakers, industry stakeholders and investors seeking to support the transition to low-emission steel.
