Finnish industrial trade unions criticise Commission draft on emission trading

(Helsinki 23.08.2002 Juhani Artto) In October 2001 the European Commission published a draft Directive to govern carbon dioxide emission trading between enterprises within the European Union. The trade unions representing industrial workers in Finland and the country’s largest central trade union organisation SAK see major flaws in the draft.

The organisations are unable to accept the idea of not rewarding enterprises that have already voluntarily reduced their carbon dioxide emissions, or alternatively of failing to penalise enterprises that lag badly behind in their emission solutions. As Finnish enterprises have invested more than the European Union average in emission reduction, failure to recognise this achievement would distort competition conditions and be unfair to top performers.

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