The deputy climate and environment minister of a EU country has branded the bloc’s policy on cutting carbon emissions as “insane”. Poland’s Secretary of State Krzysztof Bolesta hit out at the speed at which the EU is pushing industry to cut carbon emissions under its Emissions Trading System (ETS).

Speaking to POLITICO, he said the EU was moving too fast to take away free pollution permits for heavy industry — in some cases reducing them by as much as half. “This is insane. And it’s not one industry branch, it’s quite a few. So for me, this topic is actually something that we need to change,” Bolesta said, adding the current trajectory would hand the EU “the moral high ground, but we’ll have no industry”.

The EU Commission is expected to soften its trajectory to allow industry to emit more carbon dioxide for longer in its next ETS review scheduled for July.

At the moment, the ETS requires heavy industry companies to pay for the carbon pollution associated with their emissions, something which a number of member states believe could harm these industries due to soaring electricity prices due to the Iran conflict.

Bolesta added: “I’ve had so many conversations around the world [with] industry people, saying, ‘What are you doing? This is insane, what you’re doing with the benchmarks and industrial climate policy.’”

EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra, POLITICO also reported, has already said the commission is open to more free allowances for longer, but has hinted that this might come with conditions for Europe’s industry, such as showing they are investing in decarbonising their processes.

Poland doesn’t appear to be alone in its concerns about the EU’s attempts to cut emissions.

Last week, Euronews reported four countries, including Estonia, France, Germany and Spain, had warned the commission that the proposed new method for calculating free carbon permits could force companies to cut emissions faster than many industries can manage.

Europe’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) was established in 2005 and is the world’s largest international “cap-and-trade” carbon market, the official European Commission website explained. It limits greenhouse gas emissions from major industries and requires them to buy emission allowances for every tonne of carbon dioxide they release.

It covers electricity and heat generation, energy-intensive industrial manufacturing (such as iron, steel, cement, and paper), aviation, and maritime transport.

The website also says it operates in all EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, and has been linked to the Swiss ETS since 2020.