Never Wasting a Crisis

The document exposes lobbying efforts by large polluters and the aviation industry to undermine climate action during the pandemic. It details attempts by groups like BusinessEurope and national trade associations in France, Germany, and the Netherlands to delay legislation and carbon taxes. It specifically critiques the aviation industry's push for unconditional bailouts and efforts to weaken the CORSIA carbon market baseline. The author argues that the pandemic should be used to accelerate a green recovery rather than return to business-as-usual, recommending the phase-out of free pollution permits and the introduction of fuel taxes.

• The industry lobby group BusinessEurope requested the European Commission to delay the implementation of the EU Green Deal and extend 'non-essential' environment and climate-related consultations, citing pandemic-related barriers to public consultations and data collection for the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and Emissions Trading System (ETS).
• National trade associations in France, Germany, and the Netherlands have pushed to delay climate policies. In France, MEDEF sought a six-month delay; in Germany, the DIHK argued that pandemic-driven emission drops made further climate measures unnecessary; and in the Netherlands, industry lobbied to postpone a carbon tax on industrial installations in the EU ETS.
• High-polluting sectors, including steel, cement, and glass manufacturers, sought extensions for EU ETS emissions reporting deadlines and an increase in free pollution permits. The European Commission rejected these requests, stating that existing ETS rules provided sufficient flexibility.
• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is lobbying to change the CORSIA baseline calculation to use only 2019 emissions levels instead of the 2019-2020 average. This change would effectively eliminate offsetting obligations for airlines during the pilot phase until 2023.
• The aviation industry has sought billions in public bailouts with few or no environmental conditions, including a US package of up to $50 billion in grants and loans. The document argues that such bailouts should be conditional on accepting fuel taxes, VAT on flights, and the phase-out of free EU carbon permits.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2020). Never Wasting a Crisis. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Never-wasting-a-crisis-1.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Never Wasting a Crisis. 2020. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Never-wasting-a-crisis-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Never Wasting a Crisis |date=May 2020 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Never-wasting-a-crisis-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carbonmarketwatch2020never, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Never Wasting a Crisis}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Never-wasting-a-crisis-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }