Transforming the EU’s industrial pollution policy into an effective climate tool

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) regulates approximately 50,000 large industrial installations in Europe, which account for 736 million tonnes of CO2 or about 40% of the EU's total carbon footprint. However, the IED currently does not address greenhouse gas emissions, as these are managed by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The author contends that the EU ETS has failed to significantly reduce industrial emissions due to exemptions and free pollution subsidies. The European Commission's April 2022 proposal for reforming the IED failed to include GHG emission limits, with the Commission suggesting a delay until 2028 to avoid negatively impacting the EU ETS's efficiency. The document argues that this delay is unacceptable given the urgency of the climate crisis and that the EU ETS already possesses mechanisms, such as the Market Stability Reserve, to handle any oversupply of permits resulting from IED-mandated limits. The author urges the European Parliament and Council of the European Union to amend the proposal to regulate carbon emissions, particularly from the most polluting plants, noting that due to the IED's lengthy permit update processes, a delay until 2028 would mean no stringent GHG regulations would be in place until 2038 or later.

• The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) covers roughly 50,000 large industrial sites in Europe, which are responsible for 736 million tonnes of CO2, representing approximately 40% of the European Union's total carbon footprint.
• The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is currently the sole policy for reducing greenhouse gas pollution from heavy industry, but it has not achieved significant reductions because of free pollution subsidies and built-in exemptions.
• The European Commission's April 2022 proposal for IED reform did not meaningfully address greenhouse gas emissions and suggested delaying integration of climate and environmental instruments until the next revision in 2028.
• The argument that IED carbon regulation would undermine the EU ETS is rejected because the EU ETS Market Stability Reserve can absorb and invalidate unused allowances, preventing a market-based incentive collapse.
• Due to the slow nature of updating environmental permits and reference documents, failing to include GHG emissions in the current IED revision would mean no stringent limits could be set until 2038 or later.

APA

Ruggiero, A. (2023). Transforming the EU’s industrial pollution policy into an effective climate tool. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/03/06/transforming-the-eus-industrial-pollution-policy-into-an-effective-climate-tool/

Chicago

Ruggiero, Agnese. Transforming the EU’s industrial pollution policy into an effective climate tool. Carbon Market Watch, 2023. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/03/06/transforming-the-eus-industrial-pollution-policy-into-an-effective-climate-tool/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Ruggiero |first1=Agnese |title=Transforming the EU’s industrial pollution policy into an effective climate tool |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=6 March 2023 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/03/06/transforming-the-eus-industrial-pollution-policy-into-an-effective-climate-tool/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{ruggiero2023transforming, author = {Ruggiero, Agnese}, title = {{Transforming the EU’s industrial pollution policy into an effective climate tool}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2023/03/06/transforming-the-eus-industrial-pollution-policy-into-an-effective-climate-tool/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }