With the fifth meeting of the ‘Ministerial Alliance for Energy-Intensive Industries’ taking place on Thursday 26 February, ahead of the EU Council meeting devoted to competitiveness, eight Member States have submitted an information note on strengthening the chemical industry: Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
This meeting “will provide an opportunity for an in-depth ministerial exchange on how to better align EU decarbonization objectives with the competitiveness agenda of energy-intensive industries, with a particular focus on the chemical sector”, which has lost more than half its world market share in 20 years and is starting to lose market share in the EU to competitors from third countries.
There is “a need for political decisions on the direction of the EU ETS [CO2 Emissions Trading System] and the CBAM [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] revisions”.
The main proposals “include revisiting the free allowances phase-out schedule and benchmark values, continued indirect carbon costs compensation, measures to prevent carbon leakage, also in relation to exports from sectors covered by CBAM, as well as possible dedicated arrangements as regards production for defence purposes”.
Further efforts should also be made to simplify authorisations for industrial installations covered by the Industrial Emissions Directive and certain environmental regulations. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)