Eurogas position: Updated European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) benchmarks values for 2026-2030

Full Eurogas position here.

The benchmarks are a key component of the ETS and Eurogas welcomes the current open discussion on this critical piece of legislation.

The ETS is a fundamental pillar of the EU climate policy framework for driving decarbonisation and providing the necessary CO₂ price signal, thereby unlocking the deployment of decarbonisation solutions such as renewable and low-carbon gases and CCUS supporting a cost-efficient transition. While a strong and credible ETS must absolutely remain in place, we believe there is a need for targeted adaptations as part of the upcoming ETS review to be kicked-off in July 2026, to provide the necessary relief and predictability for EU industry, while not penalising early movers that have already invested significantly to bring down their GHG emissions.

Ahead of the broader discussions on the ETS starting July 2026, Eurogas is listing below its recommendations for the updated EU ETS benchmark values for 2026-2030, in particular the fallback benchmarks.

Eurogas believes that the proposed 2026-2030 benchmarks are overly tight and do not necessarily align with the EU ambition to boost competitiveness.

To that end, Eurogas:

• Supports addressing the methodology comprehensibly in the July 2026 ETS review. The approach of extrapolating from the top 10% performers is inadequate considering the broad array of impacted industry. Eurogas supports the ambition of improving granularity, for example through sector-specific fallback benchmarks, as announced by the Commission during the high-level roundtable discussion, and potentially applicable before 2030. The recognition of the different needs of the industry, notably in the EC reference to heat needs at different temperature levels referenced for the ETS investment booster is a concrete and constructive idea. These sector-specific fallback values should be supported by an impact assessment to ensure the consequences of any change are supported by quantitative analysis. Since the benchmarks also impact district heating systems, which operate under fundamentally different conditions than industrial installations, but are covered by the same fallback heat benchmark, a more coherent and supportive approach is necessary in the long-term e.g. sector-specific benchmark (provided that an appropriate methodology is in place) or the review of Article 10b.
• Believes that ongoing delays and repeated revisions in these processes are a significant concern and must be urgently addressed and prioritised by the European Commission, as they are contributing to heightened uncertainty in financial markets and are hindering final investment decisions (FIDs).

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