Cembureau: cement sector should maintain carbon leakage status

Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has called for the European cement sector to maintain its carbon leakage status.

In a statement released today, Cembureau responded to the Carbon Leakage Evidence Project report, recently published by  Dutch consultancy Ecorys, which found 'no evidence for any carbon leakage' in the past two periods of the European Trading System.

In relation to the European cement industry, the report – specially commissioned by the European Commission, DG Climate Action – also argued that there was only "Limited evidence of a shift in production between 2000 and 2013 with imports of clinker into the EU-25 declining over the period."

However, according to Cembureau, high energy and labour costs, combined with the 40 per cent collapse in cement production since the economic crisis have created a particularly unfavourable competitive environment for the European cement industry, relative to other regions in the world.

"In this unfavourable competitive environment and in order to remain a strong contributor to Europe’s sustainability agenda," Cembureau argues, "the cement industry needs a level and predictable playing field, and this starts with the need to keep its carbon leakage status to compete and restore its investment capacities."

The full Ecorys report is available to download here:
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/cap/leakage/docs/cl_evidence_factsheets_en.pdf