Dear Member of the European Parliament,

On January 24th the EP Industry Committee strongly rejected the Commission proposal amending the EU ETS Directive, clarifying provisions on the timing of auctions of greenhouse gas allowances (backloading).

Conversely, on February 19th the Environment Committee voted in favour of the rapporteur’s compromise amendments in support of the Commission proposal. The Committee rejected the position of the Industry Committee and decided to vote at its 26 February meeting on whether or not to give the rapporteur a mandate for negotiating a first reading agreement with the Council Presidency and the Commission.

There are significant differences between the view of the Industry and the Environment Committee but in fact in the two Committees combined there were more votes opposing backloading than in favour. This highlights the wide differences in views and the importance of having a full, democratic and transparent plenary debate on this crucial issue for the EU.

The plenary debate, followed by a vote, would allow all MEPs to express their views and provide required political support for the final decision before negotiations with the Council
Presidency and the Commission, which might commit Parliament, are opened.

This is an important debate for EU competitiveness and deserves full consideration by all the institutions. So the Alliance of Energy Intensive Industries, representing the interests of over 30.000 European companies, asks you and your political group to support this view. We are opposed to backloading because it pushes up energy costs in the EU for industrial and individual energy users alike, without any environmental benefit. In the current economic climate the measure is unnecessary and ineffective. The ETS continues to function as designed and is on target to achieve its emission reduction targets ahead of schedule at the lowest possible cost.

We thank you in advance for taking the above into consideration.