Reuters reported that the European Commission is considering whether to hand out more free pollution allowances for the steel sector next year to counter the risk the industry could be driven out of Europe.
EU sources said that the cost of carbon on the Emissions Trading Scheme has collapsed to record low levels under the burden of excess supply. Earlier this month, it hit a new low of EUR 5.61 a tonne. The fall in price has reduced any additional costs for major polluters.
It is, however, expected to rise. Some in heavy industry complain that, in any case, it does not lead to emissions cuts but only to relocation of industry to pollute other nations, where it does not have to buy the permits.
A senior Commission official told Reuters that "The Commission is planning to draw up a list of sectors most affected by the ETS regulations and that are, therefore, at risk of relocating their activities outside the EU.”
One of the sources said that "Sectors included in this list should benefit from temporary free emission permits as from 2013.” Another source added that steel is the sector most likely to get free allowances.
The Commission has already approved state aid grants in the form of free carbon allowances, specifying the money should be used to modernise energy installations and infrastructure.
For the next phase of the carbon market, beginning next year, the system of handing out free allowances changes markedly, and auctioning becomes the rule for the power sector.
The Commission is still collating "wish lists" - officially referred to as National Implementation Measures of the installations that could be eligible for free allowances, depending on EU criteria.
Research by the Commission's Joint Research Centre looked at various scenarios on energy efficiency and carbon emissions for the EU iron and steel industry.
Under its baseline scenario, assuming current trends stay intact emissions from the industry were predicted to fall by around 14 percent between 2010 and 2030, compared with the overall EU goal to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
The research said that different scenarios involving higher carbon price assumptions could take the cut to as much as 21 percent by 2030.
The European Steel Association, EUROFER, on Friday issued a statement in response to the research, saying it supported the body's arguments that EU emission targets were "unachievable for the industry and a serious danger for Europe's industrial base".