MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Renewable Energy Directive – regulatory uncertainty surrounding product certification rules and CO₂ accounting – P-002752/2025

Priority question for written answer  P-002752/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Kris Van Dijck (ECR)

Steelanol is a flagship project by ArcelorMittal in Ghent (Belgium), aimed at converting gases from steel production into sustainable ethanol. Unfortunately, regulatory uncertainty surrounding product certification rules and CO₂ accounting is threatening the viability of this decarbonisation project.

ArcelorMittal has failed to obtain the Recycled Carbon Fuel (RCF) sustainability label for the ethanol produced by the Steelanol facility in Ghent. However, if the same facility were relocated to Dunkerque (France), ArcelorMittal would receive this label. This is because the methods established in the Renewable Energy Directive for calculating the amount by which recycled carbon fuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions take into account the CO₂ intensity of the electricity used. The electricity mix therefore directly affects whether a project achieves the sustainability criterion of reducing emissions by at least 70 %.

• 1.How does the Commission justify using the parameter of the CO₂ intensity of the grid to assess the sustainability of a project, knowing that it distorts the level playing field in the internal market, with the result that decarbonisation projects in some Member States are automatically found less sustainable, regardless of the merits of the individual project?
• 2.How will the Commission ensure that innovative decarbonisation projects in Belgium are not hampered by decarbonisation-inhibiting regulatory choices?

Submitted: 7.7.2025