"The EU ETS is not the proper tool to decarbonise waste-to-energy plants" (Denis Bonvillain, Veolia)

"We believe that the EU ETS is not the proper tool to decarbonise waste-to-energy plants. The Commission believes the inclusion of waste-to-energy plants would trigger investment in CO₂ capture technologies: we consider that this would in fact be counterproductive, as the investment required in technologies not yet mature would be too high. In our view, the Commission is approaching the problem the wrong way round: the efforts needed are further upstream,” said Denis Bonvillain, Director of European Affairs at the Veolia Group, to News Tank on 15 July 2026.

These 400 to 500 waste-to-energy plants across Europe each process an average of 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste per year and enable the recovery of residual heat from combustion. According to the European Environment Agency…