European Commission-funded projects, such as this factory in Setúbal, Portugal, are backing industrial investment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. | Comisión Europea
The European Commission is proposing to give industry an additional ten years to complete its decarbonisation. Linda Kalcher and Andrés Pelayo, from Strategic Perspectives, a European think tank specialising in energy policy, warn that this relief may ease immediate pressures, but could also weaken the incentives that turned the European carbon market into a global benchmark. Jobs, investment and technological leadership —an area in which China already holds a considerable advantage— are at stake.