The Emissions Aristocracy

The report identifies 30 companies, termed the "emissions aristocracy," that were responsible for over 50% of total EU ETS emissions in 2022. While the power sector has seen significant emission reductions since 2013 due to the absence of free allowances, heavy industries like steel, cement, and petrochemicals have experienced stagnant progress. The author argues that free allowances create windfall profits and remove the financial incentive to innovate, calling for a transition to full auctioning by 2030 to ensure the polluter pays principle is upheld.

• A very small group of companies dominates EU emissions; 30 companies, representing less than 1% of the 3,515 companies in the EU ETS, produced more than 50% of the total emissions covered by the scheme in 2022. This means these 30 companies are responsible for approximately 25% of all total EU emissions for that year.
• There is a stark divergence in decarbonisation trajectories between the power sector and heavy industry. Between 2013 and 2022, power sector emissions fell by 28.6%, largely because the sector is generally not entitled to free allowances. In contrast, industrial emissions decreased by less than 9% in the same period.
• Free allowances have led to significant windfall profits for heavy industry rather than driving innovation. For example, between 2005 and 2019, ArcelorMittal reportedly made €1.9 billion and LafargeHolcim made €986 million by selling allowances on the secondary market. Between 2008 and 2014, heavy industries gained €8.1 billion from selling surplus allowances and an estimated €15.3 billion through cost-pass through to customers.
• The free allocation system is criticized for being too generous and slow to change, which undermines the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. In 2022, 566 million free allowances were distributed, valued at approximately €47.6 billion. For sectors at risk of carbon leakage, free allocation covered 94.7% of industrial emissions in 2022.
• Specific industrial sectors have secured exemptions that further slow progress. The steel industry obtained a fixed reduction rate for hot metal benchmarks of only 0.2% for the 2026-2030 period, which the report describes as an "unfair exemption" providing little incentive for emission reductions.
• To accelerate climate action, the report recommends phasing out all free emission allowances and moving to full auctioning by 2030, implementing a "one product-one benchmark" approach, and aligning the emissions cap reduction with a goal of economy-wide climate neutrality by 2040.

APA

Tamellini, L. (2023). The Emissions Aristocracy. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cmw_report-3.pdf

Chicago

Tamellini, Lidia. The Emissions Aristocracy. Carbon Market Watch, 2023. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cmw_report-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tamellini |first1=Lidia |title=The Emissions Aristocracy |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=November 2023 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cmw_report-3.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tamellini2023emissions, author = {Tamellini, Lidia}, title = {{The Emissions Aristocracy}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cmw_report-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }