From Backbone to Breaking Point: SMEs in the Crossfire of Green Trade

Under the National Steel Policy 2017, India aims to scale steel production to 300 million tonnes by 2030, with over 305 MSMEs units established in the last five years, collectively producing 33 million tonnes (MT) of steel annually. These firms, the bedrock of India’s industrial economy, now face a storm: international trade is erecting green barriers like the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (EU CBAM), domestic firms are compelled to meet sustainability requirements to match global norms and the cost of compliance: technology upgrades, certifications and carbon audits are rising faster than the capacity to ramp up. Developing countries face a stark paradox: constrained growth trajectory, and industrial firms on the periphery of a looming metal trade war, where tariffs are the new economic weapons. [Read more…]