Some industry and policy stakeholders claim that the ETS1 sectors cannot decarbonise a lot further, and that many sectors are ‘hard-to-abate’. Öko-Institut has looked at how low emissions from the ETS1 sectors can really go. On the way, they set out new ways of thinking about residual emissions. This study delves deeply into the technologically possible emission reductions across the 14 largest emitting sectors in the ETS1 (from combustion, over aviation and maritime, to energy intensive industries and waste incineration), and takes a shallower approach to the lowest 11 emitting ETS1 sectors (such as non-ferrous metals, soda ash and nitric acid). 

Öko-Institut’s sectoral experts showcase how far down ETS1 emissions could be driven by 2040 and 2050 across a high and a medium progress scenario. They build upon already available technologies and pathways that can be unlocked through effective and targeted public and private investments. 

Most sectors can indeed reach very low residual emissions over the coming decades, meaning that policymakers have the task of both enabling and forcing those investments. And the ETS revision is an unique opportunity to strengthen both carrots and sticks to ensure effective and rapid fossil fuel phase out and decarbonisation across the ETS1 sectors.

Agenda