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Towards carbon neutrality: A European Partnership for Clean Steel
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The most significant challenge of our time is climate change. The European steel industry is fully committed to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, to helping meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the EU’s target of reducing domestic CO2 emissions by 80% to 95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. The required breakthrough innovation investments can only be made if the EU’s LongTerm Climate Change Policy Strategy sets out the ambition to apply:
This will ensure that low- C02 production, and the improved circularity of materials, is fostered. It will
also support innovation, jobs and growth – strengthening these bases and securing a bright future
for the EU’s economy and its citizens.
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Strasbourg, 17 December 2025 – The European Commission’s latest proposals on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), unveiled today, correctly identify several loopholes that risk undermining its effectiveness, notably regarding EU exports, downstream sectors and circumvention practices. However, despite these laudable efforts, the measures put forward fail to deliver a comprehensive and durable response to carbon and jobs leakage, warns the European Steel Association (EUROFER).
A milestone occasion to quickly and effectively restore affordable electricity, to relaunch the
decarbonization and strengthen the international competitiveness of the European steel
industry.
Brussels, 02 December 2025 – Unchanged negative conditions – U.S. tariffs and trade disruptions, economic and geopolitical tensions, protracted weak demand and still high energy prices – continue to weigh on the European steel market. EUROFER’s latest Economic and Steel Market Outlook confirms for 2025 another recession in both apparent steel consumption (-0.2%, unchanged) and steel-using sectors (-0.5%, revised from -0.7%). A potential recovery is expected only in 2026 for the Steel Weighted Industrial Production index (SWIP) (+1.8%, stable) and for apparent steel consumption (+3%, slightly revised from +3.1%) – although consumption volumes would still remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Steel imports retained historically high shares (27%), while exports plummeted (-9%) in the first eight months of 2025.