WSDS 2026 Thematic Track: Building Demand for Green Steel in India: Public Procurement as a Lever to Accelerate Decarbonisation

India is the world’s second-largest producer of steel after China, with demand expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2035. As the sector continues to expand, reducing the emissions intensity of steel production will be critical to meeting India’s climate and industrial objectives. Yet India’s steel remains among the most emissions-intensive globally, reflecting limited recycling and the continued reliance on coal-based direct reduced iron (DRI) technologies. At the same time, public procurement accounts for a significant share of domestic steel demand, presenting an opportunity to create early demand signals that could support the scale-up of low-emissions steel production, if designed thoughtfully.

Against this backdrop, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Climate Catalyst, and the India Energy and Climate Center (IECC), UC Berkeley, are jointly hosting a Thematic Track at WSDS to explore how green public procurement (GPP) could help unlock demand for green steel in India.

Recent developments have created a timely window to revisit this conversation:

• Shifting economics: Falling renewable energy costs and recent price discovery in green ammonia and renewables-plus-storage suggest that green hydrogen-based DRI/EAF steel could approach cost competitiveness over the coming decade.
• Trade considerations: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will place an effective carbon cost on Indian steel exports, increasing the importance of decarbonisation for global competitiveness.
• Demand-side opportunity: With public procurement accounting for an estimated 22-25 percent of steel demand in India, well-designed procurement approaches could help provide early market certainty and reduce risk for producers.

Objective

This track aims to bring together policymakers, public procurers, steel producers, financiers, and technical experts to discuss how green public procurement could be designed in a way that is practical, fiscally responsible, and aligned with India’s industrial and climate priorities.

The session will also mark the launch of two complementary policy briefs on GPP for steel:

• IECC (UC Berkeley) will present a policy brief outlining procurement pathways for green hydrogen-based DRI/EAF steel, building on its recent technical analysis and focusing on design features that are robust and fiscally transparent. IECC’s GPP policy brief complements its recently released technical paper on the cost-effectiveness of green hydrogen-DRI steel and iron making, and identifies high-leverage near-term opportunities to support the rapid expansion of green steel manufacturing in India.
• CII & Climate Catalyst will present findings from a survey-based assessment of GPP for steel in India, drawing on engagement with over 25 steel producers representing nearly 60 per cent (88 MTPA) of India’s crude steel capacity, as well as 12 major public procurement agencies including Indian Railways, NHAI, and CPWD. The study examines the current and projected availability of green steel, realistic supply volumes across different star categories, the price premiums producers indicate they would need, and how this compares with potential public procurement demand under different mandate scenarios.

About the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS)

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship Track II initiative organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Instituted in 2001, the Summit series has a legacy of over two decades for making ‘sustainable development’ a globally shared goal. The only independently convened international Summit on sustainable development and environment, based in the Global South, WSDS strives to provide long-term solutions for the benefit of global communities by assembling the world’s most enlightened leaders and thinkers on a single platform. The 25th edition of the annual flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)—the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS)—will be held from 25-27 February 2026 in New Delhi. The deliberations of the Silver Jubilee edition of the Summit will focus on the umbrella theme of Parivartan: Transformations: Vision, Voices and Values for Sustainable Development.