Podcast: Can EU Clean Deal deliver a sustainable steel industry?

MEPS’s latest Speaking of Steel podcast considers whether EU decarbonisation policies promise to deliver a sustainable steel industry or risk raising the cost of production to uncompetitive levels.

Focused on the content of the European Commission's newly published Clean Industrial Deal, the podcast explores the key features of the new strategy to decarbonise EU industry by 2050.  

Although many features of the deal are designed to reduce emissions and increase efficiency, the road to greener production may raise steelmakers’ costs in the near term, according to MEPS steel market analysts Jon Carruthers-Green. 

“There is no global consensus on how to decarbonise the steel industry,” he said. 

“This is something that Europe is leading on, so, of course, there is going to be that risk of production elsewhere being a lot cheaper, because [overseas producers] can do it without these additional restrictions.” 

Fellow steel market analyst Michelle Kirton joins Carruthers-Green and MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe to explore the possible effects of the Clean Industrial Deal on EU steelmakers’ profit margins and the price of steel.  

Commenting on the contents of the Clean Industrial Deal and the implications of CBAM – a vital component of the EU’s plans to decarbonise industry – Kirton said: “It is quite clear from the contacts that we speak to that there are a lot of repercussions from all these green initiatives; the decarbonisation and the application of CBAM.  

“Everything comes with a cost and when you're in an economy like we have at the moment, where stockists, traders and end-users are really struggling to make money, it is a hard time to be implementing things that will cost them more money.” 

Among the various topics discussed in the latest instalment of MEPS’s Speaking of Steel podcast series, entitled ‘Can EU’s Clean Deal deliver sustainable steel industry?’ are: 

• Supporting energy prices – how will the European Commission support high-emitting sectors?
• Accelerating the adoption of renewable energy – what opportunities will this present to steel suppliers?
• Driving the circular economy – will scrap export restrictions be implemented as part of efforts to boost recycling?
• Recognising green steel – how will emissions-based steel labelling benefit EU steel producers and buyers?
• Tightening import controls – the growing pressure to simplify CBAM and implement a new form of steel import safeguard measures beyond 2026. 

Access the latest Speaking of Steel podcast via your favourite podcast provider, below: 

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Spotify 

Apple Podcasts 

Regular insight from the European carbon and stainless steel market is published in MEPS International’s European Steel Review and Stainless Steel Review. The monthly publications feature steel prices, price indices, market commentaries and six-month steel price forecasts. Contact MEPS for details of how to subscribe.