Today, the Commission takes action to bolster European industrial capacity in the steel and metals sectors. The Action Plan on Steel and Metals is crafted to enhance the sectors competitiveness and secure the industrys future.
The European steel industry is essential for the European economy, contributing significantly to sectors such as automotive, clean tech, and defense. A strong steel and metals industry in Europe is vital to ensure the EUs security in the current geopolitical landscape and to deliver on the ”ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030” also presented today. At the same time, this sector is at a pivotal point, facing challenges like high energy costs, unfair global competition, and the need for investments to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Plan is introduced at a time when market-distorting measures, such as non-market support for global overcapacities and unjustified tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, could negatively affect our economy.
Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, stated: “The steel industry has always been a core engine for European prosperity. Next-generation, clean steel should therefore be produced in Europe. This means we have to support our steelmakers who face strong headwinds in the global market. To ensure they remain competitive, we must lower energy costs and help them bring innovative, low-carbon technologies to market. With todays Action Plan, we offer concrete solutions for a thriving European steel industry.”
With this Action Plan, the Commission supports these sectors in addressing current challenges in the short to medium term. The sector-specific priority measures result from an inclusive and collaborative process, involving multiple discussions and stakeholder engagement, including the Steel Dialogue held on March 4, 2025. The Action Plan will:
- Ensure affordable and secure energy supply for the sector: Energy costs represent a larger share of production costs for metals than other sectors. The Action Plan promotes the use of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and encourages Member States to leverage energy tax flexibility and reduced network tariffs to alleviate electricity price volatility. The Plan promotes faster grid access for energy-intensive industries and supports the increased use of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen within the sectors.
- Prevent carbon leakage: The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) must ensure a level playing field. It should also ensure that non-EU industries do not “greenwash” their metals to appear low-carbon while still relying on high-emission energy sources. In the second quarter of this year, the Commission will issue a communication on addressing carbon leakage for CBAM goods exported from the EU to third countries. In addition, the Commission will conduct a review of CBAM, with a first legislative proposal by the end of 2025 extending the scope of CBAM to certain steel and aluminum-based downstream products and including additional anti-circumvention measures.
- Expand and protect European industrial capacities: Global overcapacity is a serious threat to the profitability and competitiveness of this sector. The EU has already acted with trade defense measures against unfair competition in steel, aluminum, and ferroalloys, but the situation continues to worsen. This is why the Commission is tightening the current steel safeguards. Before the end of the year, the Commission will propose a new long-term measure to maintain highly effective protection of the EUs steel sector once the current safeguard expires in mid-2026. To prevent exporters from bypassing trade defense measures, the Commission will also assess the introduction of the “melted and poured rule” to determine the origin of metal goods.
- Promote Circularity: Improving recycling is crucial for cutting emissions and energy use in the metals industry. The Commission plans to set targets for recycled steel and aluminum in key sectors and assess whether more products, like construction materials and electronics, should have recycling or recycled content requirements. Additionally, the Commission will consider trade measures on metal scrap, a vital input for decarbonized steel, to ensure sufficient availability of scrap.
- De-risking decarbonization: The future Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act will introduce resilience and sustainability criteria for European products in public procurement to boost demand for EU-produced low-carbon metals, creating lead markets. The Commission will allocate €150 million through the Research Fund for Coal and Steel in 2026-27, with an additional €600 million via Horizon Europe devoted to the Clean Industrial Deal. At the scale-up stage, the Commission targets €100 billion through the Industrial Decarbonization Bank, drawing on the Innovation Fund and other sources, with a €1 billion pilot auction in 2025 focusing on decarbonizing and electrifying key industrial processes.
- Protect quality industrial jobs: The steel and metals industry are vital to the EU economy, employing directly and indirectly nearly 2.6 million people. Active labor policies will support skills development and fair job transitions. The European Fair Transition Observatory and the Quality Jobs Roadmap, part of the Clean Industrial Deal, will oversee employment impacts, ensuring workers rights are protected.
Background
The Action Plan for Steel and Metals builds on measures from the Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy. The Action Plan follows the strategic dialogue chaired by the President of the Commission and the Executive Vice-President in charge of the Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. It is the second sectorial plan of this Commission after the automotive industry action plan presented on March 5, 2025. The plan also drew on insights from the Transition Pathway for the metals sectors, published together with this action plan, providing additional background and bottom-up analysis of the needs and challenges of the metals industries and the views expressed by the different stakeholders.
The European steel industry, with approximately 500 production sites across 22 Member States, contributes around €80 billion to the EUs GDP and supports over 2.6 million jobs.
For More Information
Action Plan on Steel and Metals
Speech by Executive Vice-President Séjourné
President von der Leyen launches Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the Steel sector