The European Union’s top business lobby has urged the bloc to keep free carbon permits for industries, piling pressure on officials preparing a major overhaul of the EU carbon market.
Brussels is redesigning the EU’s Emissions Trading System, its main climate tool, which forces power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute.
The ETS has come under growing political pressure from leaders worried about Europe’s faltering competitiveness, with some governments calling for a cut to the ETS price or even a pause to the system.
“The Commission should reconsider the planned phase-out of free allowances for all sectors,” industry association BusinessEurope said in a position paper published on Tuesday.
Instead, the EU should look at expanding the list of sectors eligible for free permits, it said.
BusinessEurope, whose members include national industry associations such as Germany’s BDI and Poland’s Lewiatan, also urged the EU not to make free permits conditional on companies investing in energy savings.
