The European steel industry is relieved by the decision made on 26 May of the European Commission not to propose a unilateral EU move from -20% to -30% in EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. “Realism regains some ground in Brussels”, commented Gordon Moffat, EUROFER’s director general. “It would have been absurd to take the economic downturn as justification for more ambitious climate change targets,” Moffat said. “It is already a major achievement that the steel industry was able to keep employment almost stable during the crises while steel production fell by 35% in 2009. To force industry now to keep production below pre-crisis levels would inevitably have severe negative consequences for employment and the European economy as a whole.” Moffat warns that “too stringent measures would only lead to a shift of production or production potential to other regions without any major improvements in CO2 efficiency”.
