Eurofer voices concern over ETS phaseout acceleration vote

The European Parliament’s environment committee voted on Tuesday in favour of further accelerating Emissions Trading System (ETS) free allocations. European steelmakers association Eurofer voiced its concerns over the vote. The proposal is now set to be voted on by the European Parliament in June where further changes could be applied.

The committee voted to end carbon ETS free allocations by 2030, and substitute them with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The previous proposal involved a total cancellation of ETS free allocations by 2036.

“The Environment Committee missed the opportunity to develop an ambitious framework that would both allow deep cuts in CO2 emissions and secure manufacturing and jobs in Europe. In their current form, these extreme proposals approved by a tight majority risk disrupting all this without any additional gains for the climate if emissions are just leaked abroad,” Eurofer director general Axel Eggert says in a note sent to Kallanish.

“Our industry has very ambitious plans to reduce emissions by more than one third by 2030. This would be a truly new industrial revolution requiring massive capital investment of over €30 billion and decarbonised energy and hydrogen in unprecedented quantity. Climate legislation needs to accompany this transition with balanced measures and realistic timelines rather than impose disproportionate costs that overburden companies before they can even implement their decarbonisation plans,” Eggert concluded.

Emanuele Norsa Italy