It became clear on Friday that industry will be allowed to emit more for longer when the European Commission proposed easing the rules for emissions trading (ETS).
Anders Roth, a mobility expert at the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, believes that the EU has chosen the wrong path by listening to the countries that think emissions trading is a burden.
We are in the middle of an accelerating climate crisis and should be tightening up instead. Moreover, it is bad industrial policy. In the long run, Europe does not benefit from reduced pressure on industries to adapt, but China is overtaking us at full speed, he says and adds:
Furthermore, it sends a bad signal to Swedish industries that have believed in the legislation and have started to change. Those who are ambitious are punished while those who have lagged behind are rewarded.
Can achieve goals
If emissions decrease more slowly in the industrial and electricity production sectors, a greater burden is expected to fall on other sectors such as agriculture and the transport sector - areas where, according to Anders Roth, it is more difficult and more expensive to reduce emissions.
According to Anders Roth, there is nevertheless a possibility that the EU will reach the goal of reducing emissions by 90 percent by 2040.
But it is an unfortunate signal and it does not make it easier for the EU to meet its climate goals when it relaxes the rules within the most important policy instrument it has.
“Shockingly bad”
The government and voices in the opposition are also critical of the proposal. EU parliamentarian Isabella Lövin (MP) calls it a “monumental setback for the entire climate transition.”
"That the EU Commission is now bowing down to Italy and other backward countries that have not yet done their homework is tragic. Both climate work and European competitiveness are now at risk," she writes in a comment to TT.
MEP Emma Wiesner (C), who will negotiate the proposal on behalf of the liberal party group, is also disappointed:
"Today's announcement about new rules for emissions trading is shockingly bad. The EU Commission is going to the fossil-hugging industry. This is the exact opposite of what Swedish industry has demanded and needs," she writes.
