2019 – 2020 EuLA Activity Report

The current activity report of your association covers its activities from June 2019 to May 2020.

The announcement of European Green Deal, the ‘man on the moon’ moment as claimed by the Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen, proclaims an extremely ambitious climate action policy agenda to be materialised through various initiates embracing all activities of the economy that will collectively influence our society and way that businesses operate. This is the first time in human history that climate ambition will be enshrined into laws. The Green Deal refers specifically to the energy-intensive industries including lime, as important actors of the economy that need to undertake tremendous efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, if they wish to be amongst the winning participating sectors.

A new Climate Law will impose at least 50% to 55% GHG emissions reductions by 2030 with repercussions in all related policies, including notably the EU ETS, which will be extended to additional sectors. Alternative other measures will be introduced as the Carbon Border Adjustment (CBA) for selected sectors, aiming to provide adequate protection to the threatened by carbon leakage industries.

In addition to the EU ETS benchmark update which maintained its pivotal position in the association activities, challenged by the above announcements, the EuLA Board supported by the Secretariat elaborated a vision for the lime industry aiming to reach negative carbon emissions at the horizon 2050, provided that amongst others, carbonation is recognised and accounted as a carbon removal technique.

Over the first months of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak created an unprecedented crisis that shakes the economic and social foundations of Europe. Furthermore, the European Commission sees a new opportunity to accelerate the path towards carbon neutrality. During the long months of lock-down, lime production remained effective as several countries considered lime industry an essential one, indispensable for vital applications and various value chains. We have organised an intensive exchange on board level to ensure best practise sharing in these challenging times.

Thus, despite the uncertainty on the market evolution in the following months, the lime industry counting on its strong fundamentals, should keep the momentum of a forward- -thinking manner for business development, continue its efforts to modernise and innovate the existing energy and carbon-intensive processes to empower the lime industry to be an enabler of the carbon-neutral economy at the long term.

The EuLA Board and Secretariat with the assistance of the industry experts will continue supporting its members to overcome at best the current and future challenges.

Stay healthy!