Setting Buy Clean Standards to Green US Steel

This policy brief argues that US 'Buy Clean' standards for steel must be flexible and based on recycled content reporting to avoid bankrupting primary steel producers. It suggests a sliding-scale emissions target to incentivize the transition toward green hydrogen and zero-carbon electricity without causing emissions leakage or industry bifurcation.

• The Biden administration's 'Buy Clean' strategy uses government purchasing power to reduce the climate footprint of infrastructure projects, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tasked with creating the first climate performance standards for priority materials.
• US domestic primary steel production is essential for meeting national climate goals by 2050, as scrap steel alone cannot satisfy total demand. Consequently, decarbonizing primary steelmaking is a critical requirement for the sector.
• Poorly designed Buy Clean standards risk causing 'emissions leakage' or driving primary steelmakers out of business by shifting demand exclusively to Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) facilities, which could hinder the investment needed for deep decarbonization.
• RMI proposes that the EPA implement a flexible, sliding-scale emissions standard based on the ratio of primary to scrap steel in a product, rather than a static intensity standard. This would involve prioritizing transparency of recycled scrap content in environmental product declarations (EPDs).
• To avoid reducing the comparability of EPDs, the EPA should set near-term emissions targets based on product categories rather than the specific manufacturing process used.
• A primary pathway to zero-emissions steel involves replacing blast furnaces (BF) with direct reduced iron (DRI) plants running on 100 percent green hydrogen and using EAFs powered by zero-carbon electricity.
• The US government is providing financial support for industrial transition, including $6 billion in Department of Energy grants for decarbonizing heavy industrial facilities, such as replacing blast furnaces with low-carbon technology.

APA

RMI (2023). Setting Buy Clean Standards to Green US Steel. https://rmi.org/resources/setting-buy-clean-standards-to-green-us-steel/

Chicago

RMI. Setting Buy Clean Standards to Green US Steel. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/setting-buy-clean-standards-to-green-us-steel/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Setting Buy Clean Standards to Green US Steel |date=27 April 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/setting-buy-clean-standards-to-green-us-steel/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023setting, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Setting Buy Clean Standards to Green US Steel}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/setting-buy-clean-standards-to-green-us-steel/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }