ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

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Clean energy

Decarbonised energy intensive industries

Making cement, steel, and chemicals or refining crude oil requires large amounts of mostly fossil-based energy. These four energy-intensive sectors account for 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Though GHG emissions are decreasing slowly, preserving our future requires fast and large reductions from activities that emit the most. Energy-intensive industries must be weaned off fossil resources and CO2-emitting processes. Strong legislation and international standards can create incentives and remove barriers to make this important change.

What we are working on

  • To make construction products sustainable by default, we are working to remove barriers that prevent innovative products from accessing the market, particularly in the case of cement standards.
  • We are working at national, European, and international levels to make public procurement for construction truly green by 2030. We are building the demand for sustainable construction solutions by tackling the lack of mandatory green public procurement criteria.
Who we work with

Alliances and campaigns

Related news

  • New EU carbon border tax to make biggest polluters pay – but not fast enough

    The EU’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), now entering its trial phase, is a step towards global industry decarbonisation. But until it is fully rolled out with a wider scope to mitigate the most carbon-intensive emissions faster, the environment will pay the real price for polluting products.

  • New Science-Based Targets for steel will speed up decarbonisation, but more is needed

    The steel sector is the most carbon-intensive in the world, responsible for 7% of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To decarbonise, individual companies need to commit to climate targets – and these need to be ambitious enough. The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recently updated its guidelines and targets for the steel sector, which now has a much stronger foundation for lowering emissions – but improvements must not stop there.

  • Online workshop! Why standards matter for environmental protection – zooming in on cement

    Together with our members Green Transition Denmark, we are organising an online workshop focusing on why (and how!) civil society should get involved in standardisation. The effective participation of environmental NGOs in standards-making is key to making sure our planet is protected by robust rules - and this year we are focusing on the case of cement.

Contact person
Federica Pozzi
Senior Programme Manager federica.pozzi@ecostandard.org
Tudor Cherhat
Programme Manager tudor.cherhat@ecostandard.org

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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