DECARBONIZING THE PAPER INDUSTRY
Adrian Hiel
There are many challenges facing the EU paper industry as it works to meet its emission-reduction obligations. Adrian Hiel, a Brussels-based public affairs professional representing cities in the energy transition and a steering committee member of the Coalition for Energy Savings, explores some of the potential routes to achieving this.
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et-zero by 2050 in the EU is not a target, ambition or goal. It is now the law. Along with net-zero by 2050 the law calls for a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 from a 1990 base. The paper industry, as the fifth most energy-intensive industry in Europe, has a lot of work to do. The industry has an impressive track record in reducing emissions – 29% since 2005 – so it essentially needs to do the same again in the next nine years. Not an easy task. Fundamentally, it will require two changes in mentality: First, from doing the same things more efficiently, to using different technologies that produce radically lower emissions. Secondly, with the end goal fixed by the climate law it is no longer a matter of what, but when? How quickly can the industry transform?
Carbon costs The biggest factor in pushing the timeline will probably be the EU’s system for taxing carbon – the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). In recent weeks it has surged to new highs in reaction to the EU’s Climate Law. It now stands above €40/tonne and is up 70% in the last year. About 70% of the energy used in paper-making is the drying stage. So that’s where we will focus our attention in how the industry can introduce new technologies that might actually make it sustainable and circular.
The tech is there – and better tech is almost there Fortunately, there are a couple of different options available to the industry to meet Europe’s Climate Law, a couple of options on the near horizon that can drastically reduce the cost of transitioning away from fossil fuels and a couple of tempting detours that are best avoided, but we’ll get to those later.
96% of the paper industry can be electrified now using existing technology, according to a paper released late last year by Dr Silvia Maddedu of The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “…the paper industry uses a lot of heat that is not particularly high temperature. We found that the paper industry could be almost fully electrified in the first stage. The technologies are there and could be implemented,” said Dr Maddedu.
“The most promising solution for the decarbonization of the paper industry has to be the humble heat pump.” The industry already uses a lot of electric boilers as back-up in the case of breakdown or maintenance and occasionally when electricity prices are very low. They are cheap to buy, easy to use but expensive to run full-time as electricity is often several times more expensive than gas. One of the issues with electricity is that it often faces three times as many taxes and levies as gas per unit of energy – a holdover from times when Europe’s electricity grid was dirty and fuelled by coal. But as the grid gets greener there are ever-stronger calls to move the taxation burden from clean electricity onto polluting gas. If the industry is actually serious about electrifiying and decarbonizing, the review of the EU’s Energy Taxation Directive later this year would be a good time to add its voice to the chorus calling for the tax burden to be shifted. The major caveat is that taxation is a national matter so the EU cannot force the shift by itself. Packaging Europe | 9 |
