India Green Steel Buyers Platform

Driving the Green Steel Transition for India

The Context: Driving the Green Steel Transition for India

India, one of the fastest-growing economies globally, is witnessing rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development. India is the world’s second-largest steel producer, and the steel sector accounts for 10%–12% of India’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it one of the country’s largest industrial emitters. The construction and infrastructure sectors consume 68% , engineering & packaging 22%, automobiles 9% and defence 1% of India’s total steel production. As India’s finished steel consumption is projected to nearly double to 230 MT by 2030, the country’s commitment to climate action hinges on transforming the steel value chain, from production technologies to procurement.

The Challenge: Fragmented Demand, Limited Traceability, and Lack of Procurement Standards

Fragmented green steel interests and the absence of a collective demand signal constrain India’s transition to low-emission steel. Despite climate commitments by bulk buyers, most tenders do not specify recycled content thresholds, embodied carbon limits, or emissions verification requirements. This disconnect persists due to three key factors:

First-Cost Barrier: Early-stage low-emission steel carries a modest premium. In the absence of collaborative procurement models that help distribute costs and risks, early adopters are exposed to bearing the cost premium and supply chain risks (limited supplier base, quality variability) independently, thereby hindering market acceleration.
Traceability and Verification Gaps: Without verifiable emissions data, claims of “green” or “low-emission” steel cannot be reliably audited or compared. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the globally recognised tool for lifecycle-based emissions disclosure, and green steel certificates, are not yet prevalent in Indian steel procurement.
Nascency of Regulatory Drivers: India’s building codes and green rating systems are yet to define embodied carbon thresholds for construction materials or provide ways to track decarbonisation progress over time.

Climate-conscious buyers are acting in isolation, each too small to shift the economics of suppliers and overall market behaviour. A coordinated market signal, such as a buyers platform, can aggregate demand, standardise emissions performance criteria and accounting frameworks, distribute transition costs and risks, and provide the necessary impetus to accelerate the green steel transition.

A Green Steel Buyers Platform

The India Green Steel Buyers Platform (GSBP) is a demand-aggregation and market-enabling mechanism designed to accelerate India’s low-emission steel transition through collective buyer commitments that aggregate demand, offer supply chain certainty to manufacturers, and leverage coordinated purchasing power to bridge the green premium gap. It will be the first-of-its-kind initiative in India, enabling buyers to jointly send strong market signals, facilitate supplier investment, and meet corporate and public-sector supply chain decarbonisation goals. This platform will:

Drive demand aggregation across major consuming segments (beginning with steel used in buildings and infrastructure projects) and subsequently extending to other steel product categories.
Define clear emissions thresholds aligned with India’s Green Steel Taxonomy and international frameworks.
Launch procurement rounds to discover and navigate green premiums and unlock early supply.
Collaborate on digital traceability and lifecycle emissions verification systems to ensure credible emissions data for procurement decisions.
Build buyer awareness and procurement capacity for adopting low-emission steel at scale.

The India GSBP is tailored to operate effectively within the local context, grounded in India’s regulatory, market and supply chain realities.

Getting Involved

RMI India Foundation, along with anchor partners Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council an autonomous body under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, and Lodha Foundation launched the India Green Steel Buyers Platform at the Steel Decarbonisation Convening held in New Delhi on 21 January 2026. The first phase of this initiative aims to define emissions criteria through supplier engagement and finalise the programme requirements and the platform’s operational structure. Please express your interest by emailing info@rmi-indiafoundation.org with your name, organisation, and designation if you would like to: