Although the Copenhagen Summit enabled all participating countries to affirm their common concerns about climate change and their intention to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without compromising economic and social development, the Agreement does not impose any limits on emissions generated by the signatory countries.

The European Union has made a unilateral commitment to reduce its GHG emissions by 20% by 2020, taking 1990 as the starting point. In order to fulfil this mission, the EU has already put in place a scheme for trading emissions quotas. At present, this is the most ambitious initiative in force.

UIC (the French chemical industries association) reports that, within this context, the chemical industry in France reduced its GHG emissions by 45% between 1990 and 2006 and that the sector is working towards an additional 20% reduction target for the 2006-2020 period. These achievements have required significant effort and considerable investment.

If a further unilateral reduction of 30% were to be imposed on the sector, the competitiveness of industrial sites in Europe, particularly in France, would be damaged to an even greater extent, increasing the likelihood of carbon leakage. An impact study conducted by the consultancy firm AT Kearney in July 2008 showed that in order to reduce emissions by a further 30%, the chemical industry in France would have to invest around €2bn in return for very little environmental gain (1.2m tonnes of CO2, i.e. 0.2% of total GHG emissions from France). This would equate to sacrificing an entire industrial sector whose output, moreover, is essential to the cause of sustainable development.
A recent study conducted by the consultancy firm MacKinsey demonstrated that each tonne of CO2 emitted by the chemical industry enables a reduction of 2.8 tonnes of CO2 emissions in sectors further downstream.
It is therefore clearly essential to maintain the emissions reduction target at 20% for industrial businesses, thus safeguarding the competitiveness of the EU in relation to other parts of the world.

”In the absence of commitments from the other participants at Copenhagen, and given the current economic climate, Europe must not outbid its partners. This would put the European chemical industry at an extreme disadvantage, particularly in terms of job retention” stated Bernard Chambon, President of UIC.