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| Isabelle Muller, Secretary General, EUROPIA |
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With the adoption of the Climate Change and Energy (CARE) Package in 2008, the European Institutions demonstrated their leadership in the development of legislation successfully addressing sustainability and climate change whilst ensuring a competitive industry and secure energy supply.
Achieving the European Union’s ambition to deliver its 20-20-20 targets by 2020 will require from the newly elected Members of the European Parliament and new Commissioners to continue promoting a balanced approach to energy policy through its three pillars: Competitiveness, Sustainability and Security of Supply.
EUROPIA, representing the European Refining Industry, actively contributed to the completion of the CARE Package, and is constructively supporting its implementation, which is likely to be influenced by the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change.
Oil has been, and will continue to be an important part of the EU energy mix, and the Oil Refining sector’s contribution to society and EU competitiveness is significant. Referring to the IEA energy outlook for 2030, oil will represent about 30% of the global energy mix. Obviously, achieving the objectives of 20% carbon emissions reductions by 2020 requires a diversification of energy sources, new patterns of energy consumption and the development of innovative solutions. The Oil Refining Industry, continually working to improve its operations and products, will contribute to these objectives whilst ensuring energy supply security for Europe. Over the past ten years, through a close cooperation with the automotive industry, key pollutants from transport fuels have been reduced by 80%. In our European refinery operations, energy efficiency has improved on average by 1% every year. The Oil Industry actively promotes an efficient and sustainable use of its products through the “save more than fuel” campaign1.
For all manufacturing sectors, a predictable policy framework is needed to enable decisions on investments in production facilities. As our industry is part of international trade markets, it is essential for its competitiveness that carbon costs in other regions are aligned with ours.
Therefore, EUROPIA welcomes the recognition by the Commission of European Refining exposure to international competition, creating the risk of carbon leakage. The proposal to allocate up to 100% of free allowances for the most efficient sites, until appropriate measures are adopted by others in an international framework, will partially mitigate the risk. It is also of vital importance that the EU creates a policy framework that efficiently addresses the Climate Change challenge, while ensuring the competitiveness of the European Oil Refining Industry, and enabling it to continue to contribute to Europe’s security of energy supply.
EUROPIA is determined to proactively and constructively contribute to the development and the implementation of European legislation to safeguard Europe’s competitiveness and security of supply while actively contributing to its climate agenda by providing expert advice to the European Institutions, Member States governments and the wider community.
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What the Chiefs Say is a new public affairs platform designed for senior executives from leading organizations to voice their policies and priorities. In this first issue, business leaders present their expectations and concerns on the direction of European policymaking to the incoming European Commission and the new European Parliament. |
All contributions in this section:
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- Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL
- Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc
- Hannes Ametsreiter, Chief Executive Officer, Telekom Austria
- Marc Grynberg, Chief Executive Officer, Umicore
- Friedhelm Schmider, Director General, European Crop Protection Association
- Esa Härmälä, Director General, European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association
- Rick Wilberforce, President, EuroACE
- Gerard Hartsink, Chair, European Payments Council
- Jean-Pierre Houri, Director General, IFRA – International Fragrance Association
- Wouter Lox, Managing Director, EuSalt
- Isabelle Muller, Secretary General, EUROPIA
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