German chems blast EU’s emissions vote

07 October 2008 20:01  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--German chemicals industry group VCI on Tuesday sharply criticised a European Parliament committee vote on the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), saying it jeopardised chemicals investments and employment in Germany and Europe.

 

Members of the parliament’s environment committee voted earlier on Tuesday that energy-intensive sectors vulnerable to international competition should be offered phased-in auctioning of emissions permits.

 

Instead of receiving their allowances for free, as demanded by the industry, energy-intensive participants in the EU ETS should have to buy 15% of their allowances in 2013 under an auctioning process and should be subject to full auctioning by 2020, the committee agreed in a vote on how to shape the ETS after 2012.

 

“This vote is a bad signal for the future of Germany as an industrial site, it severely threatens competitiveness and jobs in the chemicals sector,” said Ulrich Lehner, president of Verband der chemischen Industrie (VCI).

 

“Moreover, global climate change will not benefit if chemical products will be produced in other regions, instead of in Germany and Europe,” he added.

 

Lehner said that in the negotiations to now follow between Council and Parliament, legislators needed to agree on binding rules that would ensure that energy-intensive producers such as chemicals were not unduly burdened by the cost of ETS.

 

The additional costs facing German chemical producers have been estimated at €1bn by 2013 and €2bn by 2020.

 

The Frankfurt-based industry group last month called on legislators to ensure that chemical producers be allocated free emissions trading certificates for their plants and power generation units, and that they be granted relief from higher electricity costs that are expected to rise sharply in the wake of the ETS.

 

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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