This report of the Breakthrough Agenda Policy Network (African Centre for Economic Transformation [headquartered in Ghana], Chatham House [UK], Council on Energy, Environment and Water [India], Energy Foundation China [China], IDDRI [France], Institute for Global Environmental Strategies [Japan], Institute of Climate and Society [Brazil], and Instituto E+ Transição Energética [Brazil]) proposes that major steel producers such as China, India, and the EU, along with potential green iron exporters such as Australia, Brazil, and South Africa, should begin a diplomatic process to create and grow global markets for clean iron and steel.
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While carbon pricing has dominated policy debates, the report finds that targeted clean steel subsidies are likely to be essential to unlock investment in new primary steelmaking technologies. These can be designed to be revenue-neutral for governments, low-cost for consumers, and risk-free for industrial competitiveness. Other demand-creating policies, such as public procurement and potentially clean steel mandates, can also play a complementary role.
With clean steel accounting for just 0.1% of global production, multiple projects delayed, and rising trade tensions, the report also suggests a new diplomatic focus on trade and steel at the international level: tariff exemptions for clean steel, green iron offtake agreements, agreed principles on clean steel subsidies, and common definitions and standards. These measures, it argues, are likely to offer a more practical route to global cooperation than efforts to align carbon prices, and can shift current debates on trade in steel from negative-sum to positive-sum dynamics.
Launched at COP30 in Brazil, the report — Making Clean Steel Competitive in International Trade — brings together research from Europe, China, India, Brazil, and Africa. It proposes that major steel producers such as China, India, and the EU, along with potential green iron exporters such as Australia, Brazil, and South Africa, should begin diplomatic talks on measures to create and grow global markets for clean iron and steel.
Download the report at: https://www.scurveeconomics.org/publications/making-clean-steel-competitive-in-international-trade