Steel CEOs say EU carbon reforms threaten jobs, investment
10:34 (29/05) - Bron: RTRS
* Talks on EU carbon market reforms continue on Tuesday
* CEOs of Arcelor Mittal, Thyssenkrupp, others sign letter
* European Parliament agreed law in outline in February
By Barbara Lewis
LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - Steelmakers in Europe have
written to EU leaders urging them not to burden the industry
with extra carbon emissions costs they say would make them
uncompetitive against foreign rivals and raise the risk of job
losses and plant closures.
Draft reforms to the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS)
post-2020, agreed in outline by the European Parliament in
February, aimed to balance greater cuts in greenhouse gases with
protection for energy-intensive industries.
Since then, negotiations between representatives of the
European Parliament, governments and the European Commission
have made the proposals tougher, the steel industry says.
Environmentalists say the law should not be watered down.
The CEOs of 76 steel makers, including Arcelor-Mittal
MT.AS , Germany's Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE and Austria's
Voestalpine VOES.VI , say the reforms as they stand would add
unmanageable costs and mean pollutants were produced by
manufacturers in other regions.
"You can avoid burdening the sector with high costs that
will constrict investment, or that will increase the risk of job
losses and plant closures in the EU," the CEOs say in an open
letter, dated May 28, to EU heads of state and government.
Writing before more closed-door talks on Tuesday on the
carbon market reforms, the CEOs say the higher costs for
emitting carbon dioxide would favour imports.
"In its current form, the EU ETS favours steel imports from
third country competitors that do not have such costs and which
have a far higher carbon footprint than steel made in the EU,"
the letter says.
It urges EU leaders "to help preserve the sustainability and
global competitiveness of the European steel industry."
The EU ETS is meant to be the prime tool to enforce EU
emission cuts in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate
Change.
But it has been dogged by a surplus of permits for polluting
industries that have depressed prices, while industry leaders
have repeatedly objected to reforms to strengthen it.
For the European steel industry, which has battled global
oversupply, the European Union has agreed measures to protect it
from dumped imports or those found to be sold at unfairly low
prices by nations, such as China.
China has urged the EU to treat Chinese firms fairly and
abide by the World Trade Organization's rules.
China is developing its own carbon markets to curb
emissions, which environmental campaigners say undermines the
European steel industry's argument that it helps to protect
against more polluting production elsewhere.
A spokesman for Malta, the nation in charge of steering EU
debate until the end of June, said the Maltese presidency was
working to ensure constructive talks on Tuesday.