India’s ministry of steel has launched a review of the seven-year-old national steel policy (NSP) to incorporate a decarbonisation strategy for domestic mills in reaction to the European Union’s (EU) introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), sources at the ministry said on Wednesday, August 21.
The objective of the review is to assess the impact of the current policy on steel production and consumption and to determine if any adjustments are necessary in light of emerging global challenges, including taxes under the CBAM slated to come into force from 2026, the sources said.
Official data reveals that the domestic steel sector contributes 12 percent of India’s greenhouse gas emissions, with an emission intensity of 2.55 mt of CO2 per metric ton of crude steel produced, compared to the global average of 1.9 mt.
Under NSP 2017, India aimed to scale up its annual crude steel production capacity to 300 million mt by 2030.
According to the sources, while India steadily expands its steelmaking capacity to become a global leader, mills in the west are shifting their focus towards green steel but India is yet to prioritise the new technology involving less fossil fuel, and so a review of the NSP would attempt to address this issue.
An updated NSP would set the agenda for improving the technology of Indian steelmaking and align it with global trends with the focus on increasing capacity of green steel and maintaining global competitiveness, the sources said.
