Cepi slams “ironic” EU measures preventing pulp and paper industry from decarbonizing

25 May 2022 --- Legal provisions included in the EU’s “Fit for 55” package – which aims to cut the EU’s CO2 emissions by 55% before 2030 – could ironically prevent the pulp and paper industry from decarbonizing.

The European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee recently voted on a series of key pieces of the package proposed last year by the European Commission (EC).

The Confederation of the European Paper Industries (Cepi) says the outcome of the votes offers a few positive signs to the pulp and paper industry, as members acknowledged some of the contributions of the broader forest sector to climate action.

However, some legal provisions could paradoxically make it very challenging for the pulp and paper industry to decarbonize, says the confederation. In the upcoming plenary votes, the EU Parliament should focus on supporting the development of a European circular bioeconomy, it asserts.

“Unfortunately, the version of Fit for 55 pushed forward by the ENVI Committee makes investing in decarbonization and in the development of the circular bioeconomy sector very challenging,” says Jori Ringman, director-general of Cepi.

EU legislation may inversely impact the environment, claims Cepi.Votes for change
A first vote on the land use, land-use change, and forestry regulation brought forth the principle that carbon removals from forest sinks should support, but not replace, efforts to reduce fossil emissions. In short, forests should not be used to compensate for other sectors’ emissions, including non-CO2 agricultural emissions.

“This is a balanced approach to the integration of land-based removals to the overall objective of net carbon neutrality. Other proposed changes to the EC’s proposal point towards the potential of forest products to help decarbonize the EU by substituting carbon-intensive ones,” says a Cepi statement.

“However, one amendment which increases the target amount of carbon to be removed from the atmosphere by forests, up to 360 million metric tons of CO2 by 2030, may at the same time negatively affect the development of renewable and sustainable forest products by setting aside some forests for carbon offsets.”

Other positions held by the ENVI Committee are similarly contradictory, says Cepi. A vote on the revision of the Emissions Trading Scheme Directive, while it would severely reduce financial resources for low carbon investments, has also recognized the contribution that biomass could offer as a clean energy source for industries.

“However, an ENVI opinion on the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive seems to call the same principle into question. The opinion not only favors secondary over primary biomass use for energy by excluding the latter from national support schemes. It even excludes primary biomass complying with all sustainability criteria, counting toward the renewable energy target.”

Biomass targets
Primary biomass currently accounts for nearly 50% of the wood input used for bioenergy, which in turn represents almost 60% of the renewable energy consumption in the EU.

The EC has proposed that 40% of the EU’s energy mix should come from renewables as part of the revision. The compromise amendments to the ENVI Committee’s draft report suggest increasing that target to 45%.

That higher goal could be out of reach if primary biomass is excluded from the outset. Cepi is now calling on the Members of the European Parliament to correct this contradiction in the upcoming plenary vote in June.

Without requesting an in-depth impact assessment and industry consultation, the Committee also voted for extending the carbon border adjustment mechanism to all emissions trading system sectors, claims Cepi.

By Louis Gore-Langton

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