EUROMETAL participates in European Parliament Roundtable on Energy-Intensive Industries

On 3 June 2025, EUROMETAL took part in a high-level Stakeholder Roundtable on Energy-Intensive Industries, hosted at the European Parliament in Brussels.

The event, part of the Renew Europe Draghi campaign, aimed to foster dialogue between policymakers and key industrial actors on the future of European competitiveness in the context of the green transition.

EUROMETAL was represented by Dominique Laurent, Managing Director of BELMETAL, who delivered an elevator pitch highlighting the challenges and opportunities faced by steel distribution, stockholding, and service centres as Europe moves towards decarbonisation.

During his intervention, Dominique Laurent underlined five core messages:

  • the need for clear, stable, and harmonised regulation, especially around CBAM, CSRD, and ESPR, to support investment planning and compliance;
  • the importance of demand-side incentives to accelerate the uptake of low-carbon steel;
  • the urgency of targeted reskilling and training programmes that reach downstream value chain actors, including SMEs;
  • the recognition of steel reuse in ESG frameworks and green public procurement policies;
  • and the need for supportive logistics infrastructure and cost-effective, low-emission transport solutions.

The roundtable was chaired by MEP João Cotrim de Figueiredo and featured contributions from MEP Brigitte Van Den Berg, along with several other members of the European Parliament and senior Commission representatives.

In the open discussion that followed, several recurring themes emerged, including:

  • the urgent need for faster and more predictable legislation;
  • calls to streamline EU regulatory frameworks and reduce the number of delegated acts;
  • the need to lower energy costs for industry, particularly electricity;
  • and the importance of preserving Europe’s industrial competitiveness, especially in the face of unfair global competition.

The European Commission acknowledged the concerns raised by stakeholders and committed to improving dialogue with SMEs, particularly around training programmes and the integration of reuse practices in sustainability policies.

EUROMETAL remains committed to representing the voice of European steel distribution and service centres in key EU policy dialogues. We thank the Renew Europe Group and participating MEPs for the opportunity to contribute and look forward to further collaboration on advancing a fair, inclusive, and competitive industrial transition.

EU Parliament approves proposed CBAM simplifications

The European Parliament (EP) has approved proposed simplification changes to the Carbon Adjustment Border Mechanism (CBAM), Kallanish learns.

The changes, first proposed by the European Commission in February, as part of its Omnibus simplification package, include a new lower 50-tonne threshold. While the changes remove 90% of small companies from being liable for the carbon tax, the vast majority of steel companies remain within the scope.

Now approved, EP will move to finalise amendments with the European Council on the regulation.

Despite these changes being approved, Belgium-based climate think tank Sandbag and steelmakers’ association Eurofer have separately released statements calling for further changes.

Sandbag has released a position paper outlining reasons why CBAM should be extended horizontally to more products and vertically to include key precursors such as coke, lime and ferro-silicon, alongside international transport emissions. It says this is essential to close remaining emissions gaps.

This expansion is also needed to support the phase-out of free allocation under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which currently fails to incentivise decarbonisation in the EU, it adds.

It has also called for scrap to be included within CBAM’s scope.

Eurofer meanwhile notes CBAM remains full of loopholes that need to be fixed. Failure to do this risks undermining decarbonisation investments, accelerating deindustrialisation, favouring production in third countries, and failing to cut global emissions.

It has created a toolbox on how to fix these loopholes. This includes keeping free allocation for exports to avoid carbon leakage in global markets. It notes that 70% of EU steel exports go to countries with no carbon pricing, therefore making European steel uncompetitive.

Other calls include extending CBAM to steel-intensive downstream goods with a simplified emissions calculation system for complex products.

Additionally, it says the origin of CBAM goods must be set where the steel was melted and poured.

It also notes a loophole where steel-intensive goods such as car components, machinery and household items can be imported without paying any carbon price, which puts EU producers of these products at a disadvantage.

Carrie Bone UK

kallanish.com

 

European lawmakers approve carbon border tax reform on overwhelming majority

The European Parliament voted with a decisive majority to endorse a proposal to streamline the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, or CBAM, by moving to a mass-based threshold and tweaking the timeline for the sale of carbon pricing certificates.

The simplification measures, part of the European Commission’s Omnibus package presented in February 2025, passed with 564 votes in favor, 20 against and 12 abstentions, clearing the way for negotiations with the European Council on the final shape of the legislation.

“The CBAM is a crucial instrument to help the EU prevent carbon leakage and incentivize climate action outside the EU. I am therefore glad that Parliament decided not to reopen other provisions of the CBAM legislation,” Antonio Decaro, a member of the European Parliament, who is the chair of the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Food Safety, said.

“This approach enables us to simplify matters for companies without dismantling or weakening the CBAM,” he said. “We will continue to work quickly to bring legal clarity and certainty to all CBAM stakeholders.”

 

CBAM tweaks

Under the changes, importers will be able to purchase CBAM certificates starting in February 2027 rather than from Jan. 1, 2026, to cover the emissions embedded in their imports for 2026, giving businesses more time to adapt to the new carbon pricing mechanism.

The proposal also includes a 50 mt de minimis threshold that would exempt 90% of importers while still covering 99% of CO2 emissions from key industrial imports.

Efforts to simplify the EU’s CBAM reflect a broader struggle within the bloc to balance environmental goals with economic realities, particularly as European industries face competitive pressures from regions with less stringent climate policies.

The European Commission had said the changes to CBAM were being made to enhance the competitiveness of the bloc’s industry by exempting small importers and reducing the administrative burden for many companies.

In early 2026, the Commission will assess whether to extend the scope of the CBAM to other ETS sectors at risk of carbon leakage.

“The bigger CBAM issues like export rebates and expansion to downstream products are still unresolved,” Ingvild Sorhus, manager of EU carbon analysis at Veyt, said. “The upcoming report on CBAM scheduled for the [Q3 2025] will be forward-looking and policy-design oriented. The report is expected to lead to a legislative proposal in Q4 2025, with exports, circumvention protection, and downstream products likely on the docket.”

CBAM essentially imposes a carbon tariff on emissions-intensive commodities imported by the EU, including aluminum, cement, electricity, fertilizers, hydrogen, and iron and steel. The aim is to level the playing field for EU companies, as most exporting countries do not have a carbon price as high as the EU Emissions Trading System or lack a price on emissions altogether.

Carbon prices vary significantly globally. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed EU Allowances for December 2025 at Eur72.69/mtCO2e ($82.24/mtCO2e) May 21.

This compares with China’s compliance emission allowance, which was valued at Yuan 70.42/mtCO2e ($9.79/mtCO2e) May 16, according to the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange.

Eklavya Gupte | Irina Breilean