EU carbon taxes driving away investment – Ineos CEO

Carbon costs imposed by EU on chemicals sector are unsustainable, INEOS CEO and founder Jim Ratcliffe warns commission president

Carbon taxes imposed by the EU have driven investment away from the bloc and enlarged its carbon footprint by encouraging less-regulated imports, Jim Ratcliffe, CEO and founder of UK-based chemicals group INEOS, has claimed in a letter to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen. INEOS, one of the world’s largest chemicals producers, pays about €150m/yr ($162m/yr) in carbon taxes, and that figure could rise to €2b by 2030, Ratcliffe said. “That is just not sustainable, frankly,” he said. Imposing taxes risks substituting domestic production for imported products that are not subject to the same level of regulation on CO₂. “We are not doing the world any favours if we are substituti