India plans incentives for steelmakers to drive decarbonisation, secretary says

India is chalking up a host of incentives to spur production of green steel and drive local steelmakers' decarbonisation efforts, the federal steel secretary said on Friday, as the country aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

India, the world's biggest steel producer after China, has been working on a green steel policy in a bid to decarbonise procurement and production of the key construction material, as it charts its path to target net zero emissions by 2070.

"We are trying to do a lot of things to incentivise green steel... (including) working on a mission... where we will try to support the industry for decarbonisation," Sandeep Poundrik said at an industry event.

"Hopefully it will soon be approved by the government."

Firms would be incentivised to produce more green steel and for the use of renewable power, Poundrik added.

Separately, the government is also working on mandating a certain percentage of green steel for use in state-funded projects, the official said.

Last year, India defined green steel as steel, the per tonne production of which, emits less than 2.2 tonnes of polluting carbon dioxide gas.