Europe’s energy-intensive industries (EIIs) issued a joint statement urging the European Union to take immediate action to prevent what they describe as “irreversible deindustrialisation” driven by persistently high energy and carbon costs.
Europe needs competitive energy-intensive industries
Energy-intensive industries form the backbone of strategic European value chains, supporting sectors such as transport, construction, power generation, batteries, semiconductors, food security and defence. They are considered essential to the energy and digital transitions, industrial decarbonisation efforts, addressing the housing crisis and safeguarding the EU’s strategic autonomy.
Within the European Union, EIIs represent a turnover exceeding €1.5 trillion and provide employment to approximately 6.6 million people directly.
Competitiveness under severe pressure
According to the statement, Europe’s EIIs are facing unprecedented pressure, with competitiveness and investment capacity significantly undermined by several factors:
- The lasting effects of the energy crisis, with energy costs – including wholesale market prices – still around twice as high as pre-crisis levels;
- Rapidly increasing carbon costs, with the CO₂ price now roughly four times higher than in the pre-Covid period (2020) and significantly above levels in other carbon pricing schemes;
- Unfair trade practices and major global trade disruptions, further aggravated by US tariffs.
Since 2008, around 1.5 million jobs have been lost in energy-intensive industries across Europe. The situation continued to deteriorate in 2025, with production levels declining by up to 40% in some sectors and by more than 14% in most sectors compared to 2018. The EU trade balance for EIIs has become increasingly negative since 2018, and it is estimated that approximately 200,000 jobs were lost in the sector in 2025 alone. This development is described as particularly critical at a time when strategic self-sufficiency is gaining importance.
At the same time, regulatory costs are expected to continue rising in the coming years, while the effects of unfair trade practices are likely to intensify both within the EU and in export markets. Imports from countries with lower environmental and social standards are projected to grow further and more rapidly if no urgent and fundamental policy shift is implemented. As a consequence, new investments are being postponed and bankruptcies are increasing, placing Europe’s industrial base at serious risk.
Call for immediate measures
Ahead of the informal meeting of EU leaders on competitiveness scheduled for February 12, EIIs called for urgent and concrete measures adapted to the current crisis and global disruptions. Priority, they argue, must be given to addressing rising carbon costs and persistently high energy prices, while rapidly implementing the measures announced under the Clean Industrial Deal, particularly in the field of trade defence.
1. Cut total energy costs for energy-intensive industries
EIIs urged Europe to significantly reduce total industrial energy costs. They called for short-term initiatives to immediately lower overall energy system costs, including network charges, national taxes and levies, combined with a clear long-term roadmap aimed at restoring the global competitiveness of EU manufacturing.
To make electrification economically viable and safeguard already electrified industrial processes, all available instruments should be mobilised to bring total industrial electricity costs in the EU closer to €50/MWh, as referenced in the Draghi report. In parallel, the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) should be strengthened to ensure effective support for all energy-intensive industries without additional conditionalities.
2. Prevent any increase in carbon costs in 2026
The statement warns that further increases in carbon costs foreseen for 2026 would be particularly harmful under current conditions. EIIs argue that the key prerequisite for decarbonisation — access to internationally competitive low-carbon and renewable energy, supported by adequate infrastructure — will not be fulfilled in 2026 or in the following years.
They therefore called for emergency measures to shield the European economy from additional carbon costs, including the suspension from 2026 of further ETS benchmark reductions and the application of the cross-sectoral correction factor (CSCF). Without such measures, EIIs could face a reduction of up to 34% in free allocations compared to the 2021–2025 period.
Increasing carbon costs at this stage, the industries argue, would run counter to the Clean Industrial Deal’s objective of restoring competitiveness and enabling future decarbonisation investments. They also stressed that ETS revenues should be fully reinvested into the affected sectors to support industrial transformation.
3. Address unfair trade practices and economic security risks
In line with the Clean Industrial Deal’s commitment to deploy Trade Defence Instruments (TDIs) rapidly and effectively, EIIs called for reinforced and expanded trade defence tools. State-induced global overcapacities and market distortions are now affecting most energy-intensive sectors worldwide.
The statement highlights the need for:
- Additional resources for the European Commission to handle the growing number of TDI investigations;
- Adapted TDI rules and new instruments capable of addressing emerging forms of distortions and unfair practices;
- Stronger mechanisms, including the Foreign Subsidy Regulation, to tackle unfair practices linked to non-EU imports.
EIIs also requested to be clearly identified as potential beneficiaries of measures announced in the Joint Communication of 3 December on strengthening EU economic security.
4. Creating demand for products made in Europe
European industries operate under some of the world’s highest standards in sustainability, carbon footprint reduction, labour conditions, safety and innovation. However, according to the statement, these standards are not sufficiently reflected in market demand or pricing structures, and there is currently limited demand for low-carbon products.
Energy-intensive industries therefore support the introduction of carefully designed local content and European preference criteria in public procurement for specific value chains. These measures should be based on EU value added within globally integrated supply chains and accompanied by greater transparency on product origin.
Forthcoming legislative initiatives, including the Industry Accelerator Act, the Circular Economy Act and the revision of the Public Procurement Directive, are seen as key opportunities to implement such instruments, while ensuring that the internal market is preserved and supply chain disruptions are avoided.
The statement concludes that demand-side measures, funding tools, consumer information and procurement rules must be aligned to strengthen EU-based production, secure resilient and complete critical value chains and reinforce Europe’s strategic autonomy.
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