The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was established to extend Europe’s carbon pricing to imported products, aiming to create a level playing field between European industries and those from regions with less ambitious climate policies. However, in its...
Category: Steel
Report – A Scrap Game: Impacts of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was formally adopted on 17 May 2023, two years after the initial proposal by the European Commission. We are now in the midst of the CBAM transitional period and negotiations are continuing for its full entry into...
CEPS-Sandbag Joint Op-Ed – The EU should lead the green steel race… Or it could be left behind in the dust
A wave of low-carbon steel projects should be launched across the EU by 2030 but how commercially viable they are is still to be seen. According to Agora Industry, two critical factors underpin this uncertainty: a carbon price below EUR 150 per tonne of CO2 emissions...
From Niche to Mainstream: Shaping Demand for Green Steel
This report on the demand for green steel examines the impact of steel production using low-carbon technologies further down the value chain. Key Takeaways Due to weak carbon prices and high electricity costs, producing green steel incurs in a premium, which...
Update of the EU ETS free allocation rules: Polluting for free during a climate crisis
In this joint op-ed, first featured in Carbon Pulse, Sandbag policy officer Aymeric Amand and Carbon Market Watch policy expert Lidia Tamellini examine the revision of the Free Allocation Regulation. The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is one of the core EU...
European Commission lets recycled steel down in regulation proposal
Sandbag and 12 other organisations – representing important environmental NGOs, think tanks and the European recycling industry – have co-signed a letter addressed to Members of the European Parliament and Members of Coreper 1 in response to the European Commission’s...
Flat Steel in the Free Allocation Regulation
Following the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) Directive in April 2023, the European Commission was mandated to review the Free Allocation Regulation, which establishes the methodology that calculates the number of free emission allowances for sectors...
Free Allocation Needs to Incentivise Circularity for the EU to Reach Net Zero
Open letter: Free allocation needs to incentivise circularity for the EU to reach net zero To: DG CLIMA - Mr Heiko Kunst Chair of the Expert Group on Climate Change Policy Dear Mr Kunst, We are writing to you on behalf of the European steel scrap recycling...
From Process to Product: A Fix to the Allocation of Free Emission Permits to Industry
On 18 April 2023, Sandbag presented to the European Commission’s Expert Group on Climate Change Policy a proposal for reforming the granting of free emission permits to industry under the bloc’s carbon market. Our proposal aims to incentivise the switch to lower...
Mind the Scrap: Ignoring Embedded Emissions Puts the CBAM at Risk
Sandbag’s submission to DG TAXUD’s Informal Expert Group on the Analytical Methods for the Monitoring, Reporting, Quantification and Verification of Embedded Emissions in Goods under the Scrope of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). According to notes...