As Europe seeks to decarbonise its steel industry, a new Sandbag report highlights an overlooked solution: high-quality scrap steel from retired ships. With up to 15 million tonnes of certified scrap available annually, ship recycling could meet 20% of EU steel scrap demand — if policy gaps are addressed.
Sandbag’s submission to the European Commission’s Circular Economy Act Call for Evidence highlights the importance of improving steel scrap quality, setting minimum recycled content requirements, and aligning carbon incentives to enhance circularity across the EU industrial sector.
Sandbag’s response to the EU’s Electricity Action Plan highlights why both electrification and power sector decarbonisation are essential. It warns that growing electricity demand risks cannibalising clean power, unless renewable deployment accelerates.
This position paper analyses the European Commission’s industrial heat auction, highlighting the importance of auction design to ensure electrification reduces emissions without causing unintended increases due to electricity grid dynamics.
Sandbag’s latest brief outlines why the CBAM must include indirect emissions — and how this would improve climate effectiveness, industrial fairness, and fiscal efficiency.
Sandbag’s response to the EU’s Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act sets out four principles to guide green steel labelling schemes, promoting credible standards based on lifecycle emissions and system-wide decarbonisation.
Sandbag’s latest report explores how the climate impact of electricity use depends not just on how it’s generated, but also when and where it’s consumed. Using hydrogen as a case study, the report shows how poorly timed renewable electricity use can unintentionally drive-up fossil fuel emissions — and outlines smarter paths to decarbonisation.
A joint letter from 30+ NGOs warns that coal-based steel could be falsely labelled as green under proposed “mass balance” rules. The signatories call for traceable, credible emissions data in steel standards.
A new joint statement urges the EU to set binding targets for recycled steel use in cars, citing the climate benefits of secondary steel and the need to reduce demand for high-emission imports.
Sandbag’s new position paper urges the European Commission to expand the CBAM horizontally and vertically, addressing loopholes and supporting the phase-out of free allocation.