Industry should stop clinging on to pollution-freebies and start focusing on climate solutions

The document criticizes the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) for granting excessive free pollution permits to heavy industry, citing court cases involving ArcelorMittal in Luxembourg and ExxonMobil in Germany as evidence of systemic abuse. It argues that lax 'carbon leakage' rules allow companies to profit from selling surplus permits while emissions remain stagnant, and advocates for a transition to a carbon-free industrial framework based on meaningful carbon pricing and innovation.

• A Luxembourg court confirmed the government's right to reclaim nearly 81,000 free carbon permits given to ArcelorMittal in 2012 for a plant that had already closed, following a 2017 EU court ruling that permits issued in breach of EU law are not the operator's property.
• ArcelorMittal has earned more than €500 million since 2009 by selling surplus free pollution permits under the EU ETS, a result of overly lax 'carbon leakage' rules that provide the largest polluters with excessive allowances.
• The EU's primary tool for cutting heavy industry emissions is plagued by low carbon prices and excessive free permits, allowing polluters to profit while emissions stay stagnant or increase; a pending European Court of Justice case regarding ExxonMobil's plant in Germany may further reduce free allowances for industrial installations.

APA

Van den plas, S. (2019). Industry should stop clinging on to pollution-freebies and start focusing on climate solutions. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2019/03/28/industry-should-stop-clinging-on-to-pollution-freebies-and-start-focusing-on-climate-solutions/

Chicago

Van den plas, Sam. Industry should stop clinging on to pollution-freebies and start focusing on climate solutions. Carbon Market Watch, 2019. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2019/03/28/industry-should-stop-clinging-on-to-pollution-freebies-and-start-focusing-on-climate-solutions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Van den plas |first1=Sam |title=Industry should stop clinging on to pollution-freebies and start focusing on climate solutions |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=28 March 2019 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2019/03/28/industry-should-stop-clinging-on-to-pollution-freebies-and-start-focusing-on-climate-solutions/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{vandenplas2019industry, author = {Van den plas, Sam}, title = {{Industry should stop clinging on to pollution-freebies and start focusing on climate solutions}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2019/03/28/industry-should-stop-clinging-on-to-pollution-freebies-and-start-focusing-on-climate-solutions/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }