Eco-friendly steel should be assessed by emissions
The Circular Metals Association (CMA) – formerly BSV and VDM – and BVSE are calling on the European Commission to create a credible European brand of environmentally friendly steel. This is done to make the climate benefits tangible, strengthen the closed-loop economy, and provide reliable guidance to customers, investors, and government procurement.
Both associations also strongly warn against the introduction of a sliding scale as a basis for determining "green" steel, Kallanish notes.
According to the associations, the labeling of "green steel" should follow a simple principle – it should be low-emission steel that can be tracked and verified.
"The decisive factor should be the actual carbon footprint of the product, and not the question of which technological path the steel product is produced by or how complex the transformation of individual industries is," they add.
"The sliding scale does not meet this requirement and sets emission limits depending on the proportion of scrap steel used. The higher the level of processing, the stricter the restriction becomes," the associations say.
"Conversely, milder thresholds are set for production routes with less use of recycled raw materials. This allows steel with higher actual emissions to receive a favorable "green" classification, while more stringent requirements are imposed on production methods based on processing, which already significantly reduce emissions. Labeling "green" steel should not lead to methodical masking of higher emissions," they continue.
The CMA and BVSE are particularly critical of the potential implications for leading markets and government procurement.
"If products with significantly different actual CO2 emissions are classified according to comparable characteristics, the label loses its function as a guideline. In this case, public funds can be spent on products that only seem "eco-friendly" due to methodology adjustments. This would not contribute to an efficient climate.politicians, but rather, they pose a significant risk of greening," they note.
Instead, the associations support an approach to further develop the methodology within the framework of the European Ecodesign Regulation for Environmentally Friendly Products.
The framework developed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission is fairly focused on the carbon footprint of products and comparable classes of environmental characteristics. This approach should be maintained, but more ambitious so that the inscription actually promotes