Is a carbon-free Europe possible? Evaluation of sustainable green steel production performance in EU member states

The high CO2 levels generated during steel production and other high-emission sectors are seen as the largest causes of global warming. The EU, which is trying to solve this problem with the utmost seriousness, aims to reduce emissions and produce green steel without harming nature with a series of implemented precautionary plans. For a carbon-free Europe, reducing emissions generated during production, especially in the steel sector, minimising fossil fuel consumption, and using energy efficiently are essential. In addition, the necessary share should be provided from the states' budgets for new technologies and R&D investments to be developed for decarbonization and recycling the waste with effective methods is essential for sustainability. This study fills the gap in the literature as the first study to evaluate the green steel production performances of EU member countries. According to the rankings obtained with fuzzy logic-based decision-making methods, the countries with the highest performance are Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, and Sweden. In contrast, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia are the countries with the lowest performance. The issues required for higher performance of the countries are presented in detail as policy recommendations, and the outputs obtained from the study will shed light on many stakeholders, especially the EU, manufacturing institutions and researchers.