The EU will present a proposal on public procurement of green metals by the end of January

The EC will probably start with environmental sustainability

Changes to EU public procurement rules for low-emission metals are likely to cover at least steel and will be implemented by the end of the month as part of the Industrial Accelerator Act.

This was announced by Valère Moutarlier, Deputy Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission, according to Fastmarkets. The EU official made this remark during a panel discussion at a forum in Saudi Arabia.

«Later this month, we will present our Industrial Accelerator Act, seeking to link green products to public procurement or subsidy plans so that, as a regulator, we can offer incentives to bridge the gap,» he said.

According to Moutarel, the EC must be selective and will likely start with green steel in its January proposal. This is not a step that can be imposed on all different projects and for all different materials.

Trading in green metal premiums in Europe remains slow amid economic weakness, which is an obstacle if there are no mandatory requirements.

In January, the European Commission proposed a provision to temporarily suspend the cross-border carbon adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for goods in serious and unforeseen circumstances – a new Article 27a in the relevant regulation. The instrument aims to prevent price distortions in the bloc’s internal market.