Greece’s industrial sector faces the risk of being burdened by an additional energy cost of approximately 20 million euros, overall, if a compensation measure for the return of indirect carbon emissions expenses is not implemented before an approaching deadline.

A local version of the measure, widely applied in the European Union, was finalized during the summer and approved by the EU, but has been slowed down by local bureaucratic procedures.

Valid for energy-intensive production plants, the carbon emissions compensation measure, which faces a December 31 deadline, has been signed by two of three Greek ministries that need to offer their approval for a joint ministerial decision to take effect.

The Finance Ministry and Development and Competitiveness Ministry have both already signed the measure, but it also needs to be cleared by the Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change. To do so, LAGIE, the Electricity Market Operator, must first complete a number of time-consuming processing procedures.

If the end-of-year deadline is not met, the compensation amount, covering up to 80 percent of emissions expenses for the previous year, will be lost and the process begins from scratch the following year. Energy-intensive plants have been counting on this measure for some support.