The European Commission plans to relax its upcoming rules for using green steel in public procurement, according to a document released by the Commission that was reported in the Thursday edition of “Handelsblatt”.
Under the new proposal, a portion of the steel purchased for public projects must still be produced in a climate‑neutral way, but it no longer has to be manufactured within the EU. The Commission specifically requires that at least 25 % of the steel used in public contracts be low‑emission. The same threshold applies to other materials such as aluminium, cement and further products, but for those items the wording still notes “from the EU”. In earlier drafts of the document, EU manufacture was a deciding criterion for steel as well, but that requirement has now been removed.
The Commission says that European steel producers already benefit from trade‑protection measures, which is why the tighter geographic restriction is being dropped. The revised proposal was originally intended to be presented as part of the “Industrial Accelerator Act” next week; however, it may be postponed again due to internal disagreements within the Commission.