Industry leaders have gathered in Antwerp to ask for leadership and bold action to boost industrial competitiveness in Europe. Cement Europe supports the call for action addressed at government leaders ahead of their informal retreat on 12 February in Alden Biesen.
The Antwerp Call for Action highlights that European industries face persistently high energy and carbon costs, as well as unfair trade practices. This finding is in line with what Cement Europe has identified as the triple impact of structurally high energy prices, carbon, and regulatory cost on the competitiveness of our industry.
On carbon cost, Cement Europe calls for both short and long-term security through the following four measures:
- No further delay in the adoption of the ETS benchmarks for the period 2026 – 2030 with benchmarks that fully comply with the EU ETS Directive and its Annex I; the regulatory uncertainty around the newly introduced binder benchmark is unhelpful for the industry's long-term business planning.
- The ETS, as a market-based system, remains the core driver of decarbonisation in the EU. The reform of the ETS, to be proposed in Q3 2026, offers a key opportunity for securing long-term planning for decarbonisation projects that are needed if the EU is to reach net zero by 2050. In this context, an orderly and transparent review process with a focus on the long-term functioning of ETS is critical.
- Investment security demands a fully effective and operational Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that mirrors the ETS requirements, addresses both imports and exports to prevent further offshoring of cement production outside the EU and takes adequate measures to address the risks of misrepresentation, circumvention and abusive practices.
ETS revenues must be channelled back to the ETS-sectors to support their decarbonisation pathways. The cement industry alone is expected to pay between €100 billion to €160 billion into the ETS over the next ten years. Allocating these resources to de-risk major transformation projects will help ensure that the industry remains competitive and future-proof.
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