Carbon welfare: how big polluters plan to profit from EU emissions trading reform

The reform of the EU Emissions Trading System could hand more than €230 billion in subsidies to energy intensive industries, a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory shows. The Emissions Trading System (ETS) is at the centre of EU climate policy, and a Directive currently passing through the European Parliament and Council intends to keep it that way until 2030. The EU ETS claims to make big polluters pay, but has actually become a way of enhancing polluter’s profits, as well as undermining and preventing effective action to tackle climate change.