India To Spend $570 Million To Help Steel Firms Decarbonise

India plans to roll out a 50-billion-rupee ($570 million) program to encourage steel producers to cut emissions, a top government official said.

The plan would target small firms in particular, which account for almost half of the country’s steel output, Sandeep Poundrik, secretary of the steel ministry, said at the FT Energy Transition Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday. 

Steel demand in the South Asian nation is growing due to a wave of infrastructure projects and rising demand for new homes. Many small steel plants are being built as they are easier to set up, but are highly polluting.

The program is part of the government’s effort to reduce the environmental impact of its hard-to-abate steel sector. The incentive would support India’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2070 and aid trade with the EU, which through its border carbon tax is penalizing emission-intensive imports.

The initiative will proportionately reward different levels of decarbonization, and will focus on secondary plants producing semi-refined, refined or finished products, Poundrik said.