Sittings · Document

DRAFT OPINION (COM(2025)0990 – C100353/2025 – 2025/0418(COD)) 2026-04-21

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Temporary Decarbonisation Fund

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy · Rapporteur: Massimiliano Salini

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 20 Sept 2026

The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy gives its draft opinion on the proposed regulation establishing the Temporary Decarbonisation Fund, which would give transitional support to energy-intensive producers facing carbon costs as free allowances are phased out. The rapporteur says the fund is limited in scope and time, regrets that CBAM addresses imports but not exports, and urges the Commission to propose a permanent export solution in the 2026 ETS review. The draft opinion amends the proposal to require an early review of the fund, to clarify that support covers free allocation phased out for precursors, to shorten the pay-back threshold to three years, and to add many steel and stainless steel products to the eligible list.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes to amend the Commission proposal by requiring an early review of the fund, clarifying that support covers free allocation phased out for precursors, shortening the pay-back threshold to three years, and adding many steel and stainless steel products to the eligible list. He urges a permanent export solution in the ETS review.

Key points

  1. The fund would give transitional, targeted support to producers in energy-intensive sectors such as aluminium, fertilizers, iron and steel while free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System are phased out.
  2. The rapporteur notes the proposal is limited in scope and time to avoid overlap with the 2026 ETS revision, and says free allowances should remain as long as CBAM does not address export carbon leakage.
  3. The rapporteur urges the Commission to present, as part of the ETS review, a proposal preventing carbon leakage risk on export markets permanently, and is willing to work on the fund in the meantime.
  4. The draft opinion requires an early and comprehensive review of the fund's effectiveness given uncertainty over carbon leakage risks and its limited initial financial envelope.
  5. It obliges the Commission to assess whether the scope of eligible sectors and the level of financial resources are sufficient, and to accompany that assessment with a legislative proposal where appropriate to expand the scope and increase capacity, including through greater mobilisation of CBAM revenues.
  6. It states that support must cover the additional carbon costs of the CBAM factor throughout the whole production process, and clarifies that it must reflect the phase-out of free allocation for all relevant precursors as defined in Regulation 2025/2620.
  7. Amendment 1 adds a recital requiring the Commission to assess the need for additional support mechanisms to help small and medium-sized enterprises and non-exporting operators access international markets.
  8. Amendment 2 changes the deadlines for member states to communicate annual contribution amounts and to transfer them to the fund, and makes the amounts external assigned revenue.
  9. Amendment 3 requires the Commission to assess by 31 March 2028 whether the fund prevents carbon leakage and supports export competitiveness, and to propose where appropriate extending its scope and increasing its resources, including up to 100% of revenues from CBAM certificates related to exports.
  10. Amendment 4 requires the Commission to carry out an impact assessment within one year on a Union support mechanism for undertakings not primarily engaged in exports or facing barriers to international markets, and to submit a legislative proposal on it.
  11. Amendment 5 lowers the pay-back time threshold for remaining relevant investments from five to three years.
  12. Amendments 8 to 305 add many CN codes for iron, steel and stainless steel products to the list of eligible goods in Annex I.

Who is affected

  • EU producers in energy-intensive sectors such as aluminium, fertilizers, iron and steel, who would receive transitional support.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises and operators not engaged in exports, for whom the Commission would assess additional support mechanisms.
  • Member states, which would communicate and transfer annual contributions to the fund.
  • The Commission, which would carry out assessments and submit legislative proposals on the fund's scope and resources.

Figures and deadlines

  • 31 December 2027 and 31 December 2028: deadlines for member states to communicate annual contribution amounts for 2026 and 2027.
  • 31 March 2029: deadline for member states to transfer contributions to the fund.
  • 31 March 2028: deadline for the Commission's assessment of the fund's effectiveness.
  • up to 100%: share of revenues from the sale of CBAM certificates related to exports that could be allocated to the fund.
  • one year from entry into force: deadline for the Commission's impact assessment on a support mechanism for certain undertakings.
  • three years: new pay-back time threshold for remaining relevant investments.

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text and ¶ links to the paragraph it rests on. Check the text itself before relying on it.