Tag: Carbon leakage

Every country in the world should each make a commitment to introduce a carbon price aligned with a scientifically-validated international standard, say Stéphane Dion and Éloi Laurent.

The European Commission has drawn up a list of 14 industrial sectors that will be eligible for special state aid to compensate for the increased cost of electricity due to the European Emission Trading System (ETS), according to a draft paper seen by EurActiv.

France and Germany yesterday joined the growing ranks of European countries opposed to making further unilateral moves on climate change, as the European Commission today plans to make the case for raising the EU’s greenhouse gas reduction goal from -20% to -30% by 2020.

A campaign led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to introduce carbon tariffs at EU borders in order to restore fair competition with freely-polluting industries in China is being revamped in Brussels to allay fears that it might trigger a trade war.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the two countries will table a proposal "in the coming days" to correct possible trade and competitiveness distortions created by a future international climate change agreement in Copenhagen later this year.

The first-ever lifecycle analysis of the chemical industry's global emissions highlights the importance of the sector as a means of helping to reduce CO2 emissions through energy-efficiency and renewable energy applications, including insulation and coating for lightweight packaging.

European big business and environmental NGOs have disputed the data used by the European Commission to assess whether polluting industries are likely to suffer from foreign competition as a result of Europe's climate change legislation.

Fears that tighter controls on CO2 emissions in Europe will drive factories to relocate abroad has led the EU to grant sweeping exemptions for industries deemed to be at risk. Aluminium, steel, iron and cement producers are likely to benefit from the preferential regime.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels yesterday (11 December) closed in on an agreement that would give Europe's big polluters more CO2 emission permits free of charge, as the bloc's major economies slip further into economic recession.

Today's (4 December) meeting of EU environment ministers is expected to have little influence on what is being criticised as an industry-friendly, high-politics compromise deal to seal the bloc's embattled climate and energy package before the end of the year.

Despite industry warnings, there is no evidence to date that the EU's climate policies are causing factories to relocate abroad, says Karsten Neuhoff, a University of Cambridge economist and researcher, in an interview with EurActiv.

There has so far been no sign that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has prompted industry to relocate outside of Europe, says the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a report which seeks to "demystify" the "noises" coming from sectors such as cement and steel.

Officials from various environmental departments and organisations are calling for stalled environmental legislation on the proposed Soil Directive to be put into law by March 2009.