Just one day before the EU’s ‘Green Deal’, H66 Benelux Patrick Smidts attended the Energy Visions event organised by Politico on Going Green – about the industry and the transition to net-zero CO2 emissions.
Industry is the spine of the EU economic system, accounting for 80% of its exports. The trading bloc is heavily dependent on conventional industrial sectors like steel, aluminum and cement, which emit huge quantities of carbon. There are numerous approaches to lessen those CO2 emissions — however there’s no clean way of making heavy industries carbon neutral.
Politico convened an interesting and timely debate bringing together EU policymakers, industry leaders and NGOs.
The panel discussion included:
- Gwenole Cozigou, director for industrial transformation, DG Grow, European Commission
- Carl De Maré, head of technology strategy, vice-president ArcelorMittal Group CTO
- Christian Ehler MEP (EPP, Germany), coordinator in the ITRE Committee
- Sabine Frank, executive director, Carbon Market Watch
Questions discussed included:
- How prepared is EU Industry to cope with the transition to a low-carbon economic system?
- Are there any technological fixes out there that that could make Heavy Industry greener?
- What’s the function of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and what are the boundaries to its deployment? Can it cover the residual, unavoidable emissions from Industry?
Key take-aways:
- Policy stability and consistency is necessary to ensure sustainable solutions are deployed across the entire economy
- Further regulation in energy efficiency and embedded lifetime carbon content in products are on the agenda
“At H66 we are proud to contribute to the ‘Green Deal’ with our ultra-low emissions cloud infrastructure and colocation solutions” commented Patrick Smidts.
Opening Remarks