As the EU Commission prepares to present its ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, the European CEO Alliance has issued policy recommendations supporting a progressive and ambitious push to achieve climate neutrality.
Tackling climate change requires strong collaboration between the public sector and industry, the Alliance announced after its meeting in Paris. The Alliance would welcome a review of the EU’s major regulatory instruments, in particular subsidies for technologies with high CO2 emissions.
Carbon pricing signal
The CEOs’ proposals include sending a strong carbon pricing signal, accelerating measures to decarbonize mobility and transport, facilitating the transformation of the buildings sector, and speeding up the restructuring and renewal of the energy system in all EU member states.
The CEOs’ proposals include sending a strong carbon pricing signal
“I am very pleased to have been able to exchange views with the companies that provide solutions for the implementation of the Green Deal, the decarbonization of the economy, green transition, and energy efficiency. As the European Commission prepares to present its ‘Fit for 55’ energy and climate package with measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent in 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, the mobilization of industrial and economic players will be essential to achieving our climate objectives together,” said Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs in the French government.
Ramified gas network
E.ON CEO Leonhard Birnbaum: “With the unique cross-sector and cross-country CEO Alliance we are able to make a difference. Our project within the CEO Alliance aims to establish European-wide markets for green hydrogen and its derivates, that makes green hydrogen the second energy carrier of the energy transition. With renewable energies in particular, in addition to the non-electrifiable applications, we are often faced with the fundamental challenge: They are available only when wind and sun allows.”
“With hydrogen as an energy carrier, we can store green energy and transport it to places where it is needed in hard to abate sectors, for example for the production of climate-neutral, so-called "green steel." Green hydrogen can also contribute to decarbonization in the heating sector, distributed via the widely ramified gas network. By using hydrogen, we are giving the process of decarbonization a significant boost.”
Strong carbon price signal
Alliance members proposed a strong carbon price signal to achieve the EU’s climate targets
As one central instrument, Alliance members proposed a strong carbon price signal to achieve the EU’s climate targets. Carbon should have a price, no matter in which sector it is emitted. The Alliance also called for continued enhancement of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (for power and heavy industry) and for the implementation of additional sector-specific cap-and-trade systems that would apply to mobility, transport, and the buildings sector.
Sector-specific systems could then converge beginning in 2030. Another proposal concerns a European carbon pricing system that would include measures to simultaneously achieve a social balance and emissions reduction. Decarbonizing mobility, transport, and buildings will be the major challenges.
For the transport and mobility sector, electric mobility for passenger cars, light vehicles, and heavy duty vehicles has proven to be the most efficient technology in terms of energy consumption and emission reduction.
Cross-sectoral projects
The Alliance supports ambitious annual renovation targets to accelerate the sustainable transition
To foster the entire ecosystem around electric mobility, members of the CEO Alliance have initiated cross-sectoral projects to ramp up battery production and create a charging infrastructure across Europe.
Turning its attention to the EU Commission’s Buildings Renovation Wave, the Alliance supports ambitious annual renovation targets to accelerate the sustainable transition of the building stock, in particular decarbonization.
Meeting high standards
All new buildings should meet high standards regarding energy efficiency, renewables, and sustainable materials. The Alliance also calls for fossil-fuel heating systems to be rapidly replaced by rolling out electric heat pumps, district heating, and digital solutions. The CEOs are committed to applying this recommendation to their companies’ own buildings.
The European climate targets require a rapid build-up of renewable power generation and the direct electrification of mobility, transport, and heating/air conditioning for buildings. The CEO Alliance is working on a project to integrate power systems, in particular grids, in order to create a system based mainly on renewables and flexible solutions.