Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister, Olaf Lies (SPD), and Michael Vassiliadis, chairman of the IG BCE industrial union covering mining, chemistry, and energy, are calling for a fundamental overhaul of the European Emissions Trading System (ETS I). In a guest article for the “Handelsblatt,” they argued that the underlying assumptions of the current system were based on a past era-a time not marked by successive crises and daily, often unpredictable challenges. Therefore, they contend that the system must be updated based on both economic and, critically, social logic.
The EU Commission is scheduled to present its proposals for the regular reform of the ETS this Wednesday. However, Lies and Vassiliadis assert that the reform ideas thus far put forward by the Union are insufficient and require urgent improvement. Consequently, they have outlined an eight-point plan to guide the discussion.
Central to their proposal is the requirement to freeze the level of free allocation of CO2 certificates at the current standard at least until 2030. Furthermore, they demand that the reduction trajectory for these certificates be deliberately slowed down to prevent jeopardizing future industrial investments. The pair also pointed out that Europe has either not followed or has inadequately followed the example set by other global regions regarding emissions trading. They stress that the core issue is no longer simply the current burden of emissions, but rather the lack of sufficient investment prospects for industry.
