During yesterday’s European Parliament’s ENVI Committee exchange on the upcoming EU ETS review, Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra stressed the need to maintain Europe’s climate ambition while bringing greater pragmatism to its implementation. For Europe’s container glass industry, this balance will be critical.
The EU ETS must continue to drive emissions reductions while providing effective protection against carbon leakage and preserving the conditions for industrial production and investment in Europe.
This is particularly important for energy-intensive sectors such as container glass, where the pace of decarbonisation depends on the availability and affordability of low-carbon energy, infrastructure and breakthrough technologies.
As the ETS framework evolves, it will therefore be essential to:
- Reflect the different decarbonisation pathways and technology readiness of industrial sectors
- Provide sufficient predictability for long-term investments
- Ensure that carbon costs do not undermine the competitiveness of European production
- Climate policy can only deliver lasting emissions reductions if Europe also retains the industrial capacity needed to make the transition happen.
The forthcoming ETS review is an important opportunity to strengthen that balance.
FEVE will carefully analyse the forthcoming report from ETS rapporteur Peter Liese, in particular how it addresses competitiveness, carbon leakage protection and the conditions needed to support industrial decarbonisation in Europe.
FEVE looks forward to contributing practical evidence from the container glass industry as the legislative debate develops.