Cleaning up industry: why the EU's strategy isn't enough yet

The report by WWF and Carbon Market Watch argues that the EU Industrial Strategy lacks the specific targets, timelines, and governance structures necessary to achieve climate neutrality in energy-intensive industries. While it welcomes the focus on circularity and the Just Transition Mechanism, the authors highlight critical gaps regarding emission performance standards, the phase-out of free carbon allowances, and the lack of civil society inclusion in new industrial alliances.

• The EU Industrial Strategy fails to provide specific intermediate or long-term decarbonisation targets or clear pathways for energy-intensive industries to reach net-zero emissions, despite identifying decarbonisation as a "top priority".
• The strategy's governance approach relies on 'industrial ecosystems' and 'alliances' (such as the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance), but the authors argue these lack transparency and exclude civil society representatives.
• There is a significant lack of detail regarding the decarbonisation of the cement sector, which is responsible for 5% of EU CO2 emissions and 8% of global CO2 emissions.
• The report identifies a total absence of emission performance standards for greenhouse gases in the strategy, suggesting that the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) should be revised to include carbon limits.
• The strategy mentions a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (BCA) for 2021 but omits the necessary phase-out of free emission allowances, which the authors claim is essential to avoid windfall profits.
• The European Commission's approach to 'clean' hydrogen is criticized for lacking a precise definition, which the authors argue could lead to continued investment in fossil-fuel-based hydrogen.
• The strategy does not mention Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which the authors believe should be strictly limited to process emissions where no other mitigation options exist.
• While the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) is expected to mobilise €160 billion for carbon-intensive regions, the report argues that all EU funding must be aligned to exclude fossil fuel investments to avoid stranded assets.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2020). Cleaning up industry: why the EU's strategy isn't enough yet. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cleaning-up-industry_-why-the-EUs-strategy-isnt-enough-yet-WWF-and-Carbon-Market-Watch’s-assessment-of-the-European-Commission-Communication-.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Cleaning up industry: why the EU's strategy isn't enough yet. 2020. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cleaning-up-industry_-why-the-EUs-strategy-isnt-enough-yet-WWF-and-Carbon-Market-Watch’s-assessment-of-the-European-Commission-Communication-.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Cleaning up industry: why the EU's strategy isn't enough yet |date=July 2020 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cleaning-up-industry_-why-the-EUs-strategy-isnt-enough-yet-WWF-and-Carbon-Market-Watch’s-assessment-of-the-European-Commission-Communication-.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carbonmarketwatch2020cleaning, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Cleaning up industry: why the EU's strategy isn't enough yet}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cleaning-up-industry_-why-the-EUs-strategy-isnt-enough-yet-WWF-and-Carbon-Market-Watch’s-assessment-of-the-European-Commission-Communication-.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }