Steel and Metals Action Plan
The EU Steel and Metals Action Plan, published in March 2025, aims to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of Europe’s metals industry.
The Action Plan primarily targets steel and aluminium, while also addressing copper and nickel. It sets out a series of policy actions to tackle high energy costs, global overcapacity, and trade barriers such as recent U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs.
Why is it important?
Precious metals play essential roles in clean energy, hydrogen, electrification and critical technologies, but have been excluded from the scope of the Action Plan. The Commission justified this by noting that precious metals are smaller-volume technology metals, often falling under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). However, only Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) are listed as critical; gold and silver are not. This exclusion creates regulatory uncertainty for gold and silver, despite their essential role in technologies needed for the EU’s green transition. While the direct impact on precious metals companies is limited, the exclusion of precious metals from the plan may create regulatory gaps and reduce support for precious metals producers and recyclers.
The EPMF calls for the Steel and Metals Action Plan to:
- Recognise precious metals as essential decarbonisation enablers, ensuring that generic measures apply to them equally.
- Recognise the multi-metallic nature of the non-ferrous metals sector and avoid regulating metals in silos without considering the entire non-ferrous metals ecosystem.
- Include gold and silver under initiatives to strengthen Europe’s industrial resilience and strategic autonomy.
- Ensure access to grids and affordable energy for all metal producers, including precious metals refiners and recyclers.
- Extend circular economy measures such as access to scrap metals and recyclability targets to precious metals. Set clear objectives and guidelines for all metals to provide regulatory certainty and ensure their uptake in green industrial applications.
