Huge investment needed in EU

European heavy industries such as cement, steel and refining will need huge investment if the continent is to reach a goal of being carbon neutral in three decades.

European heavy industries such as cement, steel and refining will need huge investment if the continent is to reach a goal of being carbon neutral in three decades, a new report says.

Spending on new technologies, ensuring a supply of clean energy and improving carbonpricing systems are among the measures required to meet the target, said the report, published on Thursday by an EU advisory group. Without them, local industry cannot be competitive against foreign rivals, the expert group on energy-intensive industries said.

Ursula von der Leyen, who will become EU Commission president on December 1, has laid out the broad strokes of an unprecedented policy to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, a strategy that would put the region ahead of its main trading partners China and the US in tackling pollution and making good on the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

The commission is due to reveal more details about the plan next month. Von der Leyen promised to toughen an existing 2030 goal by cutting emissions 50% or even 55% compared with a previous target of at least 40%.

She wants to unlock €1-trillion of investment over the coming decade through the European Investment Bank.

The report by the advisory group, which includes energyintensive companies, national governments and non-governmental organisations, calls for breakthrough technologies and infrastructure. Yet it warns these can only come with policy help.

One recommendation refers to energy-intensive industries as part of the EU emissions trading system, the world’s biggest capand-trade programme, and says that to avert the risk of companies relocating to regions without emission curbs they should get a share of free permits to discharge carbon dioxide.

To better shield the industry as Europe boosts its climate ambition, Von der Leyen promised a carbon border tax, fully compliant with the World Trade Organization rules and initially imposed on a number of selected sectors.

50% new target for cutting EU emissions by 2020

2050

EU leader’s deadline for Europe to become the first climateneutral continent