Corus threatens to quit Europe over strict carbon emissions laws

Corus CEO Philippe Varin, who is also the chairman of the World Steel Association's climate change policy group has threatened to shift operations to China if the EU does not change its carbon emission regulations.

Speaking at the UN climate change conference in Poznan, last week, Varin said that politicians in Europe have to help companies by funding them to install latest breakthrough clean-energy technologies or Corus will have to shift its operations from Europe to China where steel manufacturers are not subject to stringent carbon caps.

The steel industry wants the current 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on carbon reducement to be scrapped and replaced, with a 'sectoral agreement' wherein steel manufacturers are given free carbon allowances laid down with an industry-set benchmark, which makes technology transfer between the East and West simpler.

Varin said, if Corus is forced to buy CO2 credits from the market without a system being put in place to improve the production process, then the company has no choice but to shift its operations out of Europe even as EU leaders agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by the year 2020.

According to him, in order to cut carbon emissions while producing steel, companies require breakthrough technology, which is very expensive, costing €200 million to €300 million to upgrade just a one million ton production plant.

Varin said that steel manufacturers could not afford to spend these huge amounts of money on new technology or pay penalties for not abiding with CO2 emission laws, which will force them to quit Europe and relocating their plants elsewhere thereby polluting the planet by twice as much.