Association for a European Competitive Industry viciously attacks European Commission

Last week Europe’s major polluters - represented by the Association for a Competitive European Industry (ACEI) - launched an unwarranted and vicious attack on the European Commission’s latest economic assessment of the move to a 30% GHG reduction target. by 2020. ACEI claims, without providing any evidence, that a move to 30% would harm European competitiveness.

A leaked draft communication from the Commission clearly lays out, with the help of advanced economic models, that a 30% target has become much more affordable than 2 years ago. This assessment is backed up by earlier independent research of the International Energy Agency and market analysts New Energy Finance. The IEA and the European Commission confirm that without any intervention, emissions under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2020 - representing up to 45% of EU emissions - will be at the same level as in 2008.

ACEI conveniently ignores the fact that the European manufacturing industry is sitting on a huge pile of unused EU ETS allowances, representing a value of 3 Billion EUR and possibly more over the 2008-2012 EU ETS trading period. This huge surplus, which can be carried over until 2020, makes it quite easy for the manufacturing industry to absorb the move to a 30% target.

ACEI claims that Europe cannot act alone in increasing its unilateral target. This is a very cynical strategy from a federation which has members involved in sabotaging climate action in other parts of the world (see CAN Europe home page article of 29 April). The most pertinent examples are EU oil companies demanding the expansion of dirty tar sands exploitation in Canada or off-shore oil drilling in the US.

Last week Europe’s major polluters - represented by the Association for a Competitive European Industry (ACEI) - launched an unwarranted and vicious attack on the European Commission’s latest economic assessment of the move to a 30% GHG reduction target. by 2020. ACEI claims, without providing any evidence, that a move to 30% would harm European competitiveness.


A leaked draft communication from the Commission clearly lays out, with the help of advanced economic models, that a 30% target has become much more affordable than 2 years ago. This assessment is backed up by earlier independent research of the International Energy Agency and market analysts New Energy Finance. The IEA and the European Commission confirm that without any intervention, emissions under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2020 - representing up to 45% of EU emissions - will be at the same level as in 2008.