01 July 2026

European citizens challenge calls to weaken the EU ETS

The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is built on a simple, powerful idea: if you pollute, you pay. By putting a price on carbon, it creates a financial incentive to clean up and generates billions in revenue that can be reinvested in the transition.

Since 2005, the ETS has driven real emissions reductions across power generation, heavy industry, aviation and other energy-intensive sectors. But it has never been without controversy. For years, many of the biggest industrial polluters have received a share of their allowances for free, a subsidy that is only now being phased out, gradually, between 2026 and 2034.

The timing of the next ETS review couldn’t be more loaded. With geopolitical tensions running high and energy costs still biting, some governments and industry groups are pushing to water the system down, extending free allowances, adding loopholes, and delaying the moment polluters are finally made to pay in full. Others argue, compellingly, that a robust carbon price is not the enemy of industrial competitiveness: it’s the foundation of it.

Against this backdrop, and as the European Commission prepares to reveal its proposal for the EU ETS on 15 July, understanding citizens’ expectations is particularly important.

As the European Commission prepares to table its ETS reform proposal on 15 July, the stakes are high. To understand what European citizens actually want from this system, we worked with a coalition of civil society organisations and commissioned YouGov to survey people across six countries – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. The findings are clear: the public expects polluters to pay, revenues to be reinvested fairly, and any remaining free allowances to come with real conditions attached.