09 Apr 2018

EU energy intensive industries: paid to pollute, not to decarbonise – NGO report

CAN Europe

Europe’s energy intensive industry sectors have been benefitting from exemptions and special regulations on energy taxes and levies, but they “have been among the slowest in the EU to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and invest in solutions to decarbonise and maintain technological leadership,” writes Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe in a report. The authors highlight the case of Germany, where energy intensive industries “received a total of more than 159 billion euros between 2005 and 2016” in the form of subsidies related to the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), exemptions from energy and power taxes, exemptions from the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) surcharge, and other exemptions and rebates. CAN builds on an analysis conducted by Green Budget Germany (FÖS) in 2017.

Find the report in English here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheets Industrial power prices and the Energiewende and Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future.

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