On 5 April the Green Growth Platform organised a Chatham House debate in the European Parliament on “Making the EU ETS Work for Industry”.

Participants included Members of the European Parliament, Businesses, National Representatives, renowned experts and NGOs. The introduction focused on the need for innovative thinking when drafting phase 4. Moreover, there is great diversity between the industries under EU ETS and the differences between large and small emitters should be taken into account.

The first panel focused on Member States’ perspectives. In addition to discussing tiering, the debate also addressed the benchmark proposed by the European Commission, simplification of the EU ETS Directive, innovative fund, carbon leakage as well as a possible ‘opt-out’ for small emitters.

In the second panel, participants from various industries expressed their views on EU ETS. The debate addressed the question of China’s future ETS, the market reserve as well as the tiered approach. While some industry representatives supported the tiered approach, others opposed it stressing that it would discriminate against certain sectors. Tiering was further criticised as representing neither green nor growth.

Cerame-Unie published a statement explaining the drawbacks of a tiered approach to free allocation in EU ETS.