Addressing carbon leakage - key for EU’s global industrial leadership

Today’s EU Industrial Strategy is a stepping-stone for decarbonisation and a critical means to preserve Europe’s environmental integrity and competitiveness on the global scene.

Decarbonisation and electrification are two critical vectors of the growth and competitiveness of the European industry. They will support the local production of goods, provide high skills jobs to EU citizens and enable our industry to show its global leadership worldwide.

Getting there will necessitate massive investments and measures to address the impacts of carbon leakage, which affecting more than the energy intensive sectors. The imports of dirty electricity are increasing and Eurelectric today calls on policymakers to promote a meaningful carbon pricing worldwide. This could avoid the unnecessary reliance on a potentially damaging unilateral carbon border adjustments. 

A more global carbon pricing could prevent the market distortions or the negative impacts on EU based generators that have been observed as a result of electricity imports from countries with laxer CO2 rules.  

 

Read Eurelectric’s position paper "Carbon Border Adjustment: opportunities to complement efforts under the Green Deal".

Read Eurelectric's statement on the European Industrial Strategy.