Question for written answer E-000XXX/2021 to the Commission
Rule 138
Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (PPE), Iuliu Winkler (PPE), Mircea-Gheorghe Hava (PPE), Frédérique Ries (Renew), Izabela-Helena Kloc (ECR), Stelios Kympouropoulos (PPE), Massimiliano Salini (PPE), Loucas Fourlas (PPE), Franc Bogovič (PPE), Maria da Graça Carvalho (PPE), Traian Băsescu (PPE), Hermann Tertsch (ECR), Georgios Kyrtsos (PPE), Marek Paweł Balt (S&D), Bogdan Rzońca (ECR), Theodoros Zagorakis (PPE), Vasile Blaga (PPE), Ioan-Rareş Bogdan (PPE), Daniel Buda (PPE), Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (PPE), Gheorghe Falcă (PPE), Marian-Jean Marinescu (PPE), Dan-Ştefan Motreanu (PPE), Gheorghe-Vlad Nistor (PPE), Eugen Tomac (PPE), Manolis Kefalogiannis (PPE), Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (PPE), Siegfried Mureşan (PPE)
The Commission is finalising the Delegated Act on climate mitigation and adaptation under the EU Sustainable Finance Framework.
Although primary aluminium production is eligible, producers are unable to meet the electricity thresholds for indirect emissions as the proposed 100 gCO2/kWh (Annex I) and 270 gCO2/kWh (Annex II) limits for carbon content of consumed electricity depend strictly on geographical location. In the EU 27, that would only allow a minimal number of smelters out of the 11 still operating, with an annual capacity of around 2 million tonnes, to meet the criteria.
The climate mitigation “do no significant harm” (DNSH) threshold under the Climate Adaptation Objective (Annex II) would de facto label most European smelters as significantly harming the environment.
In light of the above,
1. How will the Commission ensure that it will not label the majority of EU primary production of aluminium as “significantly harming the environment”, in spite of the fact that it has a carbon footprint which is 50% lower than the global average and 3 times lower than China?
2. Why does the Delegate Act which no longer makes eligible mitigation measures aimed to achieve the identified thresholds, ignore the Commission’s Technical Expert Group (TEG) initial recommendations?