Imports - Eurofer

T e c h n o l o g y a n d E n v i r o n m e n t
EU Steel Industry Energy Consumption per Tonne of Finished Steel
EU Steel Industry CO 2 Emissions per Tonne of Finished Steel
100
80
60
40
1975 1980 1985
1990 1995 1999
Source: Eurostat
95.7
93.2
Energy Consumption
CO2 Emissions
Various policies and measures are being considered, nationally and at a European level, in order
to implement the Kyoto commitments. EUROFER supports the idea of voluntary/negotiated
agreements at a national level. Such agreements exist or are being renegotiated in six Member
States (Germany, Finland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK), and are being
discussed in several others.
In the recently issued “EU strategy for sustainable development” an all-encompassing EU energy
tax regime to be adopted in 2004 with “full internalisation of external costs” and minimum tax
rates indexed to inflation is announced. Although a (carbon) energy tax has been on the
Council agenda for many years, agreement has not been reached. A carbon energy tax is quite
inappropriate for the steel sector because it is unlikely to result in reduction of CO 2 emissions.
Its effect on the industry would be to push up input costs, not reduce unit energy consumption.
Production processes are already very energy efficient and further improvements would be very
difficult to achieve economically. Consequently, a carbon energy tax would reduce funds available
for investments and R&D for improvement of energy efficiency, and it would also open the
probability of relocation of steel production to non-EU countries.
3-year moving average
54.1
51.4
39
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