Launched during a summer of fossil-fuelled climate breakdown marked by heatwaves and wildfires, the European Commission’s carbon market revision backtracks on climate action. The new proposal severely weakens the effectiveness of Europe’s flagship climate policy, and risks undermining the achievement of the EU’s 2040 and 2050 climate targets.
The European Commission has today gifted a fossil fuel lifeline and more free passes to pollute in their proposal to revise the EU’s flagship climate policy – the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
Despite civil society, progressive industry, companies and even governments calling for the Commission not to mess with the ETS, today’s proposal kicks the door wide open to blunt one of the EU’s most important and effective climate tools.
Over the past 20 years, the EU ETS has successfully helped cut emissions from power, industry, aviation and maritime sectors in half. But today’s proposal brings the continent off course, away from cleaning up its climate pollution and supporting the green industries of today and tomorrow.
Reneging on past progress means the EU’s climate targets will be further out of reach, and companies committed to decarbonisation lose the stable and predictable policy and support they need and are asking for.
This proposal seeks to allow about 2 billion more tonnes of carbon pollution from covered emitters. It also aims to hand out even more free pollution permits – shielding big polluters from paying for the climate damage they are inflicting.
Worse yet, 100’s of billions of euros in taxpayer subsidies and freebies come with very few strings attached: the conditionalities do not meet the expectations the Commission itself set. There is apparently such a thing as a free lunch – if you’re a big polluter in the EU. And everyone else pays for it.
Quotes
“This proposal scuppers the EU’s key climate tool. It needs serious improvements to avoid wrecking the EU’s 2040 climate target,” urged Carbon Market Watch EU policy lead Wijnand Stoefs.
“Some EU industry players are making an effort to decarbonise, but the biggest polluters are not. The proposal is mostly carrots with very few sticks: it’s not the time for more empty promises, benefits must only be granted to those who deliver emission reductions,” warned Carbon Market Watch EU industrial decarbonisation expert Lidia Tamellini.
