India’s second-largest steel producer faces a triple compliance pressure unlike any other sector.
CBAM creates export cost exposure from 2026. CCTS creates domestic GEI compliance obligations. The Green Steel Taxonomy creates a procurement signal that progressively favours lower-emission producers. All three operate on overlapping timelines. The reline-or-retire decision on India’s ageing blast furnace fleet is the most consequential capital decision in Indian industry today.
India is the world’s second-largest steel producer, making approximately 149 to 150 million tonnes in 2024 and targeting 300 million tonnes of installed capacity by 2030. But the production route that delivers most of that steel — the blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace process — generates approximately 2.5 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of finished steel, placing India’s average emission intensity 54 percent above the EU benchmark used by CBAM. The scale of that gap, and the pace at which it must close, define everything about the sector’s decarbonisation economics through 2035.
Steel faces a triple compliance pressure that no other sector in India matches in its simultaneity. CBAM creates export cost exposure starting from 2026 for every tonne shipped to Europe. CCTS creates domestic compliance obligations tied to plant-level GEI targets notified by MoEFCC. And the Green Steel Taxonomy — notified as Gazette 763(E) in December 2024 — creates a procurement signal from government and large buyers that will progressively favour lower-emission producers in domestic markets. These three pressures are operating in the same direction and on overlapping timelines, making the decarbonisation investment decision for a blast furnace CFO more urgent than at any previous point in India’s industrial history.
See the Industrial Decarbonisation Policy Map for a full view of how these regulations interact across the sector. For India’s NDC targets and climate commitments, see the India Decarbonisation page. To compare steel with the other four covered sectors, visit the Sectors overview.
Steel faces the most complex regulatory overlay of any sector Reclimatize.in covers — simultaneous export trade pressure, domestic carbon compliance, energy efficiency obligations, and a new taxonomy that prices decarbonisation into procurement decisions.
EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
Steel is the largest single CBAM-covered product category by volume. India bears approximately 18 percent of total global CBAM steel costs. BF-BOF producers face compliance costs of $60 to 165 per tonne between 2026 and 2034 as the free allowance phase-down accelerates. CBAM for steel covers Scope 1 direct emissions only — giving EAF-scrap producers a structural advantage since their emission intensity is 60 to 70 percent lower than BF-BOF at comparable electricity sources.
Read our CBAM steel analysis →CCTS GEI Targets and the Green Steel Taxonomy
CCTS GEI targets for iron and steel were drafted in June 2025 with final notification expected in H1 FY2026-27. Plant-level targets will differentiate BF-BOF and EAF producers, creating within-sector CCC buyer and seller positions. The Green Steel Taxonomy (Gazette 763E) sets five star ratings from 3-star at below 2.2 tCO₂/t to 5-star at below 1.6 tCO₂/t, creating a procurement signal for government infrastructure projects and export markets.
Read the Green Steel Taxonomy analysis →PAT Scheme and Renewable Obligations
Steel plants above the designated consumer threshold are subject to mandatory Specific Energy Consumption targets under the PAT Scheme. The Renewable Consumption Obligation under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act 2022 requires growing shares of non-fossil energy in designated consumer operations. EAF-based producers with captive solar have a structural advantage here — their process electricity is already the primary decarbonisation lever, and open access solar simultaneously meets RCO obligations and reduces CCTS Scope 2 GEI.
Energy Efficiency Regulations repository →Air Act, EIA Notification and Fly Ash Rules
Integrated steel plants are subject to stack emission standards for particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides under the Air Act, with CPCB periodically tightening limits. New capacity and major modifications require environmental clearance under the EIA Notification from MoEFCC. Blast furnace slag and fly ash from captive power plants are governed by the Fly Ash Utilisation Notification, creating both obligations and commercial opportunities through cement and construction sector offtake.
Environmental Regulations repository →Three routes, three timelines, one capital decision that cannot be deferred
The decarbonisation pathway for Indian steel has three distinct routes, each suited to a different plant configuration, production scale, and time horizon. The blast furnace reline cycle — which typically falls every 15 to 20 years — is the decision point at which the route choice becomes irreversible for a capital-intensive plant. With CCTS Phase 2 targets tightening from FY2027-28 and CBAM costs escalating through 2034, the reline window that opens in the next three to five years is the most consequential capital decision Indian steel CFOs have faced in a generation.
BF-BOF Efficiency
EAF Transition
H₂-DRI
Steel’s decarbonisation connects directly to the power sector through EAF electricity demand, to freight through DFC logistics, and to the green hydrogen mission through H₂-DRI.