German Steel Association: EU Automotive Package is key signal for low-emission steel

Germany’s steel association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl) has welcomed the European Commission’s newly presented Automotive Package as an important political signal for creating a lead market for low-emission steel produced in the EU.

The Automotive Package, presented in Strasbourg, consists of four legislative proposals linked to the automotive sector. According to WV Stahl, the initiative acknowledges the need for targeted demand-side incentives to support the steel industry’s transition toward climate neutrality. At present, low-emission steel produced in Europe is significantly more expensive and remains largely uncompetitive without policy support.

Kerstin Maria Rippel, Chief Executive of WV Stahl, said the Commission’s proposal sends “an important political signal for Europe as an industrial location and a significant step toward establishing a lead market in the automotive sector.”

She stressed that low-emission steel produced in Germany and the EU is essential for a sustainable, resilient and climate-neutral industrial base. To secure this, market-based incentives are needed along the entire European value chain, starting with basic materials production.

WV Stahl emphasised that the effectiveness of the Automotive Package will depend on its detailed design. In the association’s view, the next phase must focus on low-bureaucracy requirements, transparent certification and crediting systems, and gradually rising targets for low-emission steel. These elements are seen as crucial to maintaining momentum and providing investment certainty.

Particularly significant for the steel industry is the Commission’s proposal to revise CO₂ emission standards for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. For the first time, low-emission steel produced exclusively within the EU would be eligible to count toward compliance with fleet emission targets. Under the current proposal, up to seven percent of the emission reductions required by 2035, compared with 2021 levels, could be attributed to the use of such steel.

WV Stahl argues that intermediate targets before 2035 will be essential if the measure is to generate a genuine lead-market effect and stimulate early demand. Around 30 percent of steel demand in Europe comes from the automotive industry, making the sector particularly well suited to anchoring demand for low-emission “steel made in the EU” and supporting the broader decarbonisation of the steel value chain.

Source: WV Stahl, Photo: Fotolia