European Union steel industry says proposed Co2 benchmarks still too low

European Union steel industry says proposed Co2 benchmarks still too low. The European Steel industry said draft carbon-intensity benchmarks for allocating free allowances in the European Union emissions program from 2013 were too strict even after an adjustment in internal EU consultations. “The benchmarks for steel are still too low because they do not take account of the full CO2 in waste gases used for electricity production, as is provided for by the directive,” Axel Eggert, a Eurofer spokesman, said by phone. “They are still below the best performer according to our calculations based on independently verified data.” The benchmarks, based on the average performance of the top 10 percentile of installations in 2007-2008, will help determine how many permits emitters get for free when the EU moves toward auctioning of allowances in the eight-year phase of its carbon- trading program through 2020. The average amount of allowances that will be allocated to so-called hot metals factories will be 1.328 metric tons of free CO2 allowances for each ton of product, 25 percent more than in an earlier draft, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “According to our calculations the benchmark for hot metal should be 1.475 allowances per ton,” Eggert said. by Ewa Krukowska