Almost EUR 100 billion in free carbon permits handed to biggest polluters by EU

Free pollution permits worth EUR 98.5 billion were given to energy-intensive sectors including steel, cement, chemicals and aviation between 2013 and 2021. This is more than the EUR 88.5 billion that the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) charged polluters – mostly coal and gas power stations – for their CO2 emissions.

According to the WWF, this is in direct contradiction with the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

Potential sustainability impact

While recycling, avoiding plastic, lowering personal energy usage and other similar approaches have the potential to slow down climate change, the largest factor is still corporations. Unless the world’s largest conglomerates radically lower emissions and actively remove them from the atmosphere, individual action will not have the desired effect.

The ETS is purported to be the cornerstone of the battle against climate change, but the WWF believes that the free allowances undermined it and emissions from heavy industry have not fallen. The analysis also found that at least a third of the revenue raised from the ETS was not spent on climate action, rising to almost half if projects to increase the efficiency of burning fossil fuels were excluded.