European heavy industry can no longer dodge climate action

The European manufacturing sector has seen minimal emission reductions, with industrial emissions in the EU falling by only 0.2% in 2016 and 1% since 2012. The author contends that the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) fails to incentivise low-carbon transformation because it allows industries to profit from the system rather than pricing pollution effectively. This environment protects incumbents and hinders innovators, such as low-carbon cement producer Ecocem, whose solutions can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by over 50%. To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, the document calls for a Low-Carbon Industrial Strategy to scale demand for low-carbon products and remove market barriers. It suggests specific technological shifts: using recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces for steel, substituting clinker in cement, and replacing fossil fuel-based feedstock with biomass in the chemical sector. The author highlights a regulatory imbalance where pollution payouts via free permits are over 15 times the amount allocated for innovation under the EU ETS reform after 2020, and suggests alternatives like a carbon border tax.

• European industrial emissions have shown very little decline, falling by only 0.2% in 2016 and 1% since 2012, with projections suggesting this trend will persist until 2030.
• The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is criticized for failing to drive emissions cuts, instead allowing industries to generate billions in profits and creating a market where low-carbon solutions lack a financial advantage over high-carbon competitors.
• There is a significant funding imbalance in the EU regulatory framework, where the value of free permits given to industry as pollution payouts is more than 15 times the amount the EU intends to spend on innovation under the post-2020 EU ETS reform.
• Deep decarbonisation in heavy industry requires specific technological shifts: the steel sector should move from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces using recycled scrap, the cement sector should use low-carbon clinker substitutes, and the chemical sector should replace fossil fuel-based feedstock with biomass-based alternatives.

APA

de Jong, F. (2018). European heavy industry can no longer dodge climate action. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/02/22/european-heavy-industry-can-no-longer-dodge-climate-action/

Chicago

de Jong, Femke. European heavy industry can no longer dodge climate action. Carbon Market Watch, 2018. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/02/22/european-heavy-industry-can-no-longer-dodge-climate-action/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=de Jong |first1=Femke |title=European heavy industry can no longer dodge climate action |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=22 February 2018 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/02/22/european-heavy-industry-can-no-longer-dodge-climate-action/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{dejong2018european, author = {de Jong, Femke}, title = {{European heavy industry can no longer dodge climate action}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/02/22/european-heavy-industry-can-no-longer-dodge-climate-action/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }