MINEX Forum

Tag: Draghi Report

  • Heavy Industry Issues “Code Red” for Europe: Urgent Call to Halt 2026 Carbon Cost Hikes

    Heavy Industry Issues “Code Red” for Europe: Urgent Call to Halt 2026 Carbon Cost Hikes

    BRUSSELS – In a major intervention aimed at the highest levels of EU governance, Euromines and a coalition of Europe’s energy-intensive industries (EIIs) have issued a stark warning: without immediate policy intervention, the continent faces “irreversible deindustrialisation.”

    The joint statement, released on 2 February 2026, comes at a critical juncture for European manufacturing. Highlighting a “deteriorating fast” situation, the industry group revealed that production levels in some sectors plummeted by as much as 40% in 2025.

    Key Alarms: A Sector in Retreat

    The coalition, representing a turnover of €1.5 trillion and 6.6 million employees, argues that the backbone of Europe’s strategic autonomy—including steel, cement, chemicals, and mining—is crumbling under three main pressures:

    • Sky-High Energy: Costs remain twice as high as pre-crisis levels.

    • Crushing Carbon Prices: CO2 prices are now roughly four times higher than in 2020, far outpacing international competitors.

    • Global Trade Headwinds: Unfair trade practices, exacerbated by aggressive US tariffs and state-induced global overcapacities, have left European firms unable to compete.

    “In 2025 alone, an estimated 200,000 jobs were lost in these sectors. This is a critical situation at a time when self-sufficiency is becoming increasingly important,” the statement warns.

    The “Four Pillars” of Survival

    As EU leaders prepare for an informal summit on competitiveness on 12 February, the industry is demanding a “Clean Industrial Deal” with four immediate priorities:

    1. Freeze Carbon Cost Hikes: A total pause on any planned increases in carbon costs for 2026. The group warns that upcoming reductions in “free allocations” could slash support by up to 34%, a move they label “detrimental.”

    2. Target €50/MWh Energy: Aligning with the landmark Draghi Report, industries are calling for all levers to be pulled to bring industrial electricity costs down to €50/MWh to make electrification viable.

    3. Aggressive Trade Defense: Rapid deployment of Trade Defence Instruments (TDIs) to counter “economic coercion” and non-EU imports produced under lower environmental standards.

    4. “Proudly Made in Europe” Demand: New rules in public procurement to prioritise European-made products, ensuring that the EU’s high environmental and social standards are reflected in market demand.

    Looking Ahead

    The timing of this statement is no coincidence. It serves as a direct “input” for the 12 February retreat at Alden Biesen Castle, where European Council President António Costa has invited former Italian PMs Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta to discuss a radical overhaul of the Single Market.

    With carbon prices projected by some analysts to reach €100/t in early 2026, the industry’s message is clear: Europe cannot afford to pay for tomorrow’s climate goals by bankrupting today’s industrial base.

  • EU Opens Industry Consultation on Critical Raw Materials Cooperation Amid Supply Chain Pressures

    EU Opens Industry Consultation on Critical Raw Materials Cooperation Amid Supply Chain Pressures

    As the European Union works to shore up the security and sustainability of its raw material supply chains, European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera has launched a public consultation aimed at promoting cooperation among industry players under EU competition rules.

    The move reflects Ribera’s dual mandate as Commissioner for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition: guiding the bloc’s competition policy through 2029 while co-leading the Clean Industrial Deal, a pillar of the EU’s green and industrial transformation. According to her 2024 Mission Letter, Ribera must “modernise the EU’s competition policy” to enable innovation, resilience, and sustainability in an era marked by geopolitical tensions and unfair subsidy-driven competition.

    Announcing the consultation, Ribera invited stakeholders in extraction, processing, and recycling to identify barriers and opportunities for collaboration across the raw materials value chain. “Together, we can build sustainable supply chains and transform challenges into opportunities for prosperity, innovation and resilience,” she stated.

    The consultation comes as companies struggle to navigate legal uncertainty around cooperation. While the EU’s 2023 Horizontal Guidelines offer some room for sustainability agreements, they caution that even modest cooperation—such as setting a joint purchase price for recyclable phones—can breach antitrust rules. Meanwhile, the 2022 Vertical Guidelines do little to clarify how sustainability considerations might enable cooperation further down the supply chain.

    The legal ambiguity stands in contrast to growing EU policy imperatives. The Draghi Report on European Competitiveness (2024) urges the Commission to ease legal pathways for joint procurement and collaborative production efforts in critical raw materials. Likewise, the Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal communication commits to providing companies with tailored antitrust guidance aligned with EU economic and security priorities.

    While the EU’s 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) already outlines strategic public-sector projects to diversify sourcing, the CRMA stops short of addressing the private sector’s role in joint action. In March 2025, the Commission selected 25 Strategic Projects across 14 critical materials—including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and tungsten—but implementation rests largely with national governments and non-EU partners.

    Ribera’s new consultation, therefore, fills a key policy gap. The Commission is expected to initially focus on the 14 raw materials prioritized under the CRMA, particularly those essential to sectors like renewables, digital, aerospace and defence. Based on the feedback, the Commission will consider whether to issue new competition guidance—possibly by 2026—clarifying when and how companies may work together to strengthen critical supply chains without violating EU antitrust law.