The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has stated that there is nothing effective about the existing European climate policy which is highly damaging to the competitiveness of European industry, forcing the shift of industrial production from the world-leading industries in Europe to much less efficient and more polluting industries in other parts of the world. There is nothing effective about setting targets for emissions reductions without taking into account the technology limitations which confront individual industries, EUROFER said. It went on to state that the steel industry in Europe for instance has reduced its emissions per metric ton of production by 50 percent since the 1970s, but is now at the limit of existing technology and it simply cannot meet the new targets being discussed by Europe.
EUROFER urged the European Commission to clarify how it will safeguard the steel industry's global competitiveness in the absence of breakthrough technologies for steel which would allow it to reduce its emissions even further. Otherwise its climate and energy package will be meaningless, it said.
According to EUROFER, the EU's climate and energy package must not result in direct or indirect costs for at least the best performers in sectors exposed to global competition, as long as there is no international agreement on climate change which provides for similar constraints on the competitors. There must be a clear commitment and objective by the Commission to reduce the gap in industrial energy prices and costs between the EU and its main competitors, such as the US.
