Sandbag and 14 other organisations urge the European Commission to reform, not expand, the ETS Indirect Cost Compensation scheme — warning that current proposals risk diverting climate funding into untargeted fossil subsidies.
Category: Climate Financing
State Aid for Indirect Carbon Costs: Reform before extending!
Sandbag responds to the EU’s consultation on State aid for Indirect Carbon Costs (ICC), calling for targeted reforms to better support clean electricity, avoid windfall profits, and align with the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Heat up industry, not the climate!
This position paper analyses the European Commission’s industrial heat auction, highlighting the importance of auction design to ensure electrification reduces emissions without causing unintended increases due to electricity grid dynamics.
New Principles for Steel Labelling: response to the consultation on the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act
Sandbag’s response to the EU’s Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act sets out four principles to guide green steel labelling schemes, promoting credible standards based on lifecycle emissions and system-wide decarbonisation.
Open letter against international credits integration into the EU 2040 climate target and NDC
A joint NGO letter calls on the EU to exclude international carbon credits from the 2040 target. The signatories urge a domestic-only approach to protect climate credibility and ambition.
Auction for industrial heat electrification: A positive step, but mind the induced emissions!
This position paper analyses the European Commission’s industrial heat auction, highlighting the importance of auction design to ensure electrification reduces emissions without causing unintended increases due to electricity grid dynamics.
Fixing the Innovation Fixation
Joint blog with Carbon Market Watch25 May 2023 Sandbag's feedback to the EC25 May 2023 The EU’s Innovation Fund, launched in 2018, is the EU’s programme for funding cutting-edge low-carbon technologies. To be eligible, projects must be, according to the European...
Lost opportunity of carbon market reform leaves a lot to fix in ancillary laws
On 13 December 2022, the European Commission, Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism that will partly replace the free allocation of emissions permits to polluters covered by its carbon market. This marks the...
Spend Smarter: A bit of advice on climate innovation financing
Report | Spend Smarter: A bit of advice on climate innovation financing Download the report Currently, most EU-managed climate innovation subsidies go to innovation (through the Innovation Fund). The EU’s Innovation Fund, launched in 2020, is one of the world’s...
Innovation’s Black Friday
The EU’s Innovation Fund, launched in 2020, is one of the world’s largest programmes funding innovative low-carbon technologies. The fund can cover up to 60% of a project’s costs, mostly upfront with few strings attached. Earlier this month, the IF’s third large-scale...








