EU Commission Announces Emissions Trading Reform for Friday

At the same time, industrial companies and numerous EU member states have been under pressure for months due to high energy prices. They are calling for relief, including the issuance of additional free certificates. As the Deutschlandfunk report states: „Außerdem fordern Industrievertreter die Ausgabe zusätzlicher Gratis-Zertifikate."

As the programme further reports, "wird erwartet, dass sie auf Forderungen aus der Industrie und zahlreichen EU-Mitgliedsländern eingehen wird, die seit Monaten wegen hoher Energiepreise auf Erleichterungen dringen". The Commission is thereby putting the system under review; it is described as "der wichtigsten klimapolitischen Entscheidung der Wahlperiode ist die Rede".

What could specifically change

At its core, the issue is how the ETS-1 can be reformed without weakening its steering effect. According to the report, it is conceivable that "dass die Kommission die Laufzeit nun verlängert", meaning the date by which the number of available certificates reaches zero would be pushed back. This would soften the upward price pressure on pollution rights, which could relieve energy-intensive industries but could also reduce the pressure for rapid emissions reductions.

The EU Commission is not free in its decision. Changes to emissions trading must be carried through the ordinary legislative procedure by the European Parliament and the Council of EU member states. Only after this vote would the reforms become actually binding for companies.

Why the reform is politically delicate

Observers see the proposal as a political balancing act. On the one hand, the climate target is to be preserved; on the other, the competitiveness of European industry – compared, for example, with locations in the USA or Asia – should not suffer further under rising energy and certificate costs. Industry representatives argue that otherwise they would have to relocate production sites to third countries with weaker climate rules.

What is clear is that the plans presented on Friday mark the starting point for a longer political struggle. Only once Parliament and Council have negotiated their positions will it become clear whether the reform will actually contain additional free certificates, an extended duration, or other instruments such as an industrial electricity price.

The report was broadcast on 17.07.2026 on the programme Deutschlandfunk; the underlying text was written by Jan Krüßmann, initially published as a paid article on Tagesspiegel Plus. A concrete date has now been set on which the EU Commission intends to publicly present its ideas.