European Industry Summit Antwerp 2026

European Industry Summit in Antwerp: Lime Industry Calls for Urgent Action to Safeguard Competitiveness and Decarbonisation

Antwerp, 11 February 2026

Following the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, where more than 500 business leaders engaged with EU policymakers and heads of state on Europe’s industrial future, the European Lime Association (EuLA) reiterates the urgent need to restore industrial competitiveness while enabling effective decarbonisation.

The Summit sent a strong and unified signal: Europe’s climate ambition must be matched with the right industrial framework to ensure that foundational industries can continue to operate, invest, and decarbonise within Europe.

Climate Ambition Requires Industrial Reality

The European lime industry fully supports Europe’s climate objectives and remains committed to contributing to the transition toward climate neutrality. Lime plays a critical role in enabling decarbonisation across the economy, supporting steel production, construction, environmental protection, water and air purification, and a wide range of industrial processes.

However, as an energy- and carbon-intensive sector with unavoidable process emissions, the lime industry is facing increasing structural pressure. Persistently high energy prices, rising carbon costs, and the absence of viable large-scale solutions for process emissions are creating significant challenges for the sector’s competitiveness and investment capacity.

Without the right framework conditions, there is a growing risk that foundational industries such as lime may face reduced production in Europe, undermining both industrial resilience and climate progress.

From Strategy to Delivery

As highlighted in the joint industry letter published today and discussed at the Summit, Europe must now move decisively from strategy to implementation.

For the lime industry, this requires urgent action in three key areas:

• Lower energy and carbon costs to maintain global competitiveness and enable continued investment in decarbonisation
• Workable solutions for unavoidable process emissions, including support for breakthrough technologies and carbon management infrastructure
• Recognition of lime recarbonation in carbon accounting frameworks, reflecting the sector’s contribution to reabsorbing CO₂ across product life cycles

These measures are essential to ensure that climate ambition and industrial competitiveness advance together, rather than diverge.

Safeguarding Europe’s Industrial Foundation

Lime is a foundational material for Europe’s industrial value chains and for the functioning of modern society. Maintaining a strong and competitive lime sector in Europe supports industrial resilience, strategic autonomy, and high-quality employment across regions.

The European Lime Association calls on EU policymakers to take timely and decisive action to ensure that foundational industries can continue to decarbonise, innovate, and contribute to Europe’s sustainable industrial future.

Europe’s climate goals and industrial strength must progress hand in hand — and the time to act is now.