EU Commisioner Roswall: Steel sector central to circular economy

In a keynote speech at the Europaperspektiv event, EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall emphasized the steel sector’s crucial role in Europe’s push toward a circular economy and industrial resilience.

Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy, warned that Europe's current circularity rate of just 12% is insufficient, particularly as global competition for raw materials intensifies. “The more we waste, the more we depend on imports and extraction,” she stated, stressing that increased recycling and reuse are essential for reducing strategic dependencies.

She pointed to the Steel and Metals Action Plan as a key element in the EU’s resource strategy, alongside the Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal. These frameworks, she said, place efficient resource use and low-carbon technologies at the center of industrial policy. “Better management of our resources is at the heart of them,” Roswall noted.

The upcoming Circular Economy Act, due in 2026, is expected to further reshape the steel market. It aims to create a single market for secondary raw materials and stimulate demand for recycled steel—offering a potential boost for European producers investing in scrap-based electric arc furnace (EAF) technologies.

Roswall also flagged water access as a critical risk to industry, with the forthcoming Water Resilience Strategy set to address growing supply challenges for sectors like steelmaking, which rely heavily on clean, stable water flows.

Her message to the sector was clear: “Competitiveness and resilience are no longer defined by what you can extract, but by what you can regenerate, retain, and reinvent.” For Europe’s steelmakers, alignment with EU circularity goals will be essential to remaining competitive and strategically relevant in the years ahead.

Source and Photo: EU Commission