On 15 February 2019, the European Commission adopted the Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/708 determining the Carbon Leakage List for the trading period 2021-2030 under Phase IV of the Emissions Trading System (ETS). The decision was published on 8 May 2019 in the EU Official Journal following a scrutiny period and after receiving the assent of both the Council and the European Parliament.
All ETS sectors represented by Cerame-Unie were included in the list on the basis of either a quantitative or qualitative assessment. These include wall and floor tiles, refractories, and expanded clay – for quantitative assessments, and bricks and roof tiles, sanitaryware and ceramic household articles – for qualitative assessments. From the ceramic industry this means 1200 installations, which represent 10% of all ETS industrial installations but, significantly, only 1% of industrial emissions. The ceramic industry is highly exposed to international trade with 30% of ceramic production being exported outside of the EU.
According to the revised EU ETS Directive (EU) 2018/410, sectors which are exposed to significant risks of carbon leakage will receive free allocation corresponding to 100% of their reviewed benchmark level, which is set by the 10% best performing installations in the EU. A sector is deemed to be exposed to the risk of carbon leakage if it fulfils the criteria of a quantitative or qualitative assessment defined in Art. 10b of the Directive. During the review, the list has been substantially reduced (from 50 sectors in phase IV compared to 150 in phase III) to include only the most exposed sectors. The Carbon Leakage List is a vital for the EU’s Clean Planet for All package, which sets out the framework for meeting the EU’s commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2016.
“In order to meet our commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, European industry must continue to attract investment and remain competitive with the rest of the world. This requires a level-playing field and the Carbon Leakage List, as published today, helps establish this level-playing field so that European industry can continue to reduce emissions and work towards decarbonisation whilst remaining globally competitive.” – Alain Delcourt, President of Cerame-Unie.