World Cement Association's Comment on Linking UK and EU carbon markets

Fabien Charbonnel, Director at the World Cement Association (WCA) and Directeur Général, Cem’In’Eu comments, “I believe a unified carbon market reduces the risk of competitive distortion and encourages fairer competition across borders. Consistent carbon pricing mechanisms promote efficiency and provide clarity for businesses operating internationally. For UK-based cement producers, alignment could remove disadvantages when exporting to the EU if UK carbon prices exceed those in Europe. However, it is worth noting that EU producers exporting to the UK would similarly benefit from greater price parity. While the current impact on cross-border trade volumes in cement may be limited, ensuring a level playing field as climate policies evolve is an important step for industrial sectors navigating the low-carbon transition. This aligns with the key messages shared during the WCA's recent webinar on the implications of CBAM and the EU ETS, where it was discussed how linking carbon markets can help avoid carbon leakage, reduce complexity, and ensure fairer competition between domestic and foreign producers. As new carbon pricing regimes emerge globally and EU prices continue to rise, market coherence and predictability will be crucial to supporting investment in decarbonisation.”

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