Following the United Nations climate change summit held in Copenhagen on December 7-18, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER) released a statement on December 21, urging the EU not to move the greenhouse gas reduction target from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Commenting on the Copenhagen climate change summit results, EUROFER director general Gordon Moffat said, "The Copenhagen deal is a disappointment. We had hoped that an agreement in Copenhagen would have resulted in a global level playing field between industrial competitors worldwide. Until an agreement is reached which results in comparable efforts by industries worldwide, the EU must maintain the measures foreseen to protect the competitiveness of European industry."
In its statement, the EUROFER urged the EU to ensure the following:
- no unilateral increase of the EU's greenhouse gas reduction target from 20 percent to 30 percent,
- in the implementation of the EU emissions trading directive (ETS) fully 100 percent free allowances, based on achievable benchmarks, for the European steel industry and other sectors at risk of carbon leakage,
- compensation for ETS related increases in electricity prices in order to preserve steel recycling in Europe,
- no European financial support for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to countries which do not agree to international monitoring of all their industrial greenhouse gas emissions,
- increase of financial support for research and development of carbon-lean technologies in the EU.