Sandbag’s latest report explores how the climate impact of electricity use depends not just on how it’s generated, but also when and where it’s consumed. Using hydrogen as a case study, the report shows how poorly timed renewable electricity use can unintentionally drive-up fossil fuel emissions — and outlines smarter paths to decarbonisation.
Category: Industry
Joint statement urges EU to boost the use of recycled steel scrap in the automotive sector
A new joint statement urges the EU to set binding targets for recycled steel use in cars, citing the climate benefits of secondary steel and the need to reduce demand for high-emission imports.
CBAM extension: Closing the emissions gap
Sandbag’s new position paper urges the European Commission to expand the CBAM horizontally and vertically, addressing loopholes and supporting the phase-out of free allocation.
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.
Aluminium production and CCS/U: A reality check
Aluminium production remains challenging to decarbonise. This brief examines the limited potential of Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCS/U) in the sector and explores alternative approaches that may offer more effective emissions reductions.
Towards a minimum recycled steel content in passenger cars: setting an initial target
The EU has around 286 million motor vehicles, and every year, 6.5 million of these are scrapped. If the steel scrap from these end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is not managed well, valuable resources are lost, harming the environment. With the EU preparing its ELV Regulation, which could set targets for minimum recycled steel content for passenger cars : what should those targets be?
Feedback on the EU Commission’s draft methodology for low-carbon hydrogen
For ‘low carbon’ hydrogen to truly make a positive contribution to Europe’s transition to climate neutrality, the safeguards put in place must be meaningful. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case in this draft delegated act.
Metallurgical flexibility: Enabling the aluminium and steel sectors for demand response
Electrification and flexibility are critical to decarbonising both industrial and electricity systems. But what happens when we combine the two? Industrial flexibility will play an increasingly important role as industry moves towards electrification.
A closer look at 2023 emissions: steelmaking caused a quarter of industry pollution
This brief analyses 2023 emissions under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), using the latest data available from the EU Transaction Log (EUTL) . It particularly focuses on the iron and steel sector.
Steel and CCS/U: Decarbonisation potential, costs, and bottlenecks
Carbon capture, storage and/or utilisation (CCS/U) technologies are often touted as a ‘catch all’ solution for the decarbonisation of heavy industry, but their effectiveness and relevance vary widely across applications. This new report offers a comprehensive assessment of CCS/U technologies in the context of iron and steel manufacturing in Europe.