European People’s Party calls for two-year CBAM freeze

The European People’s Party (EPP) has called for a two-year delay on the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in a statement seen by Kallanish, following its recent leadership summit.

It also called for the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to be paused for the same length of time.

They argue these measures impose excessive burdens on SMEs, hinder competitiveness, and risk deindustrialisation.

“The EU has decided on ambitious climate targets and policies to achieve them. When implementing them, we must make sure that they do not lead to deindustrialization,” it said.

“If climate policy becomes an obstacle for competitiveness and growth, it will not only fail to have the support of European citizens, but it will also risk increasing global emissions because products will be produced in other regions of the world with higher emissions,” it added.

The EPP proposes limiting such regulations to large companies (1,000+ employees), reducing overlap, and cutting reporting obligations by 50%.

They also call for measures to protect the European automotive industry and allocate more ETS revenues to energy-intensive sectors.

“We ask the European Commission to put forward a proposal regarding measures to maintain the competitiveness of the European Automotive industry, especially relief measures to avoid potential fines for failing to reach the 2025 emissions targets. In response to the high energy prices a larger share of ETS revenues should be earmarked to energy intensive industries, for example for supporting green hydrogen or carbon capture and storage solutions,” it said.

Elina Virchenko UAE

kallanish.com