Search Climate Insights Directory

The briefing argues that energy-intensive industry lobbies in the EU use 'discourses of climate delay' to protect their financial interests, specifically by securing free emission allowances. While these sectors publicly support 2050 climate neutrality, the document claims they actively oppose short-term EU ETS reforms, such as increasing the Linear Reduction Factor or phasing out free allocations. The author asserts that the industry's narrative regarding 'carbon leakage' lacks empirical evidence and serves as a justification for windfall profits. The briefing further details how technical factors in the free allocation formula (BM, HAL, CLEF, and CSCF) are manipulated by lobbyists to maintain high levels of free permits, thereby undermining the 'polluter pays' principle and delaying industrial decarbonisation.