The European Steel Association (EUROFER) is hopeful negotiators at
the COP21 climate change conference in Paris will reach a comprehensive
and global agreement.
“EUROFER calls on policymakers to make sure that any Paris agreement
not only mitigates, insofar as possible, the risk of carbon leakage but
also incentivises investments in Europe. Energy-intensive industries
exposed to fierce global competition, such as steel, should be able to
compete in a fair way whilst on their way to decarbonisation”, said Axel
Eggert, director general of EUROFER, in a press release on December 1.
The steel industry outlined a number of objectives that it wishes to see in any agreement.
First on the list is a legally binding framework with transparent and
comparable emissions reduction commitments from major emitters leading
to comparable reduction obligations for competing industries countries
worldwide.
Second is the effective and equivalent international measurement,
reporting and verification of obligations to all parties. Another is the
use of market-based instruments (international credits) with a view to
cost-effective mitigation action, as well as a binding dispute
settlement regime and clear sanctioning rules.
“Presently, Europe is unilaterally imposing costs on its
energy-intensive industries,” Eggert explained. “Without an
international agreement, with comparable commitments and obligations
from third countries, there is the risk that this unilateral policy
could dissolve Europe’s industry in climate costs, whilst simultaneously
failing in the EU’s aim to reduce global emissions.”
According to Eggert, the European steel industry is a supporter of
action on climate change: indeed, a recent study demonstrated how the
use of steel in eight advanced applications could mitigate 443 million
tonnes of CO2 per year.
http://neurope.eu/article/european-steel-industry-hopes-for-global-climate-change-agreement/