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On 26 March 2026 CEWEP together with ESWET gathered stakeholders for a day of detailed exchanges on the role of Waste-to-Energy in Europe’s climate agenda. Participants discussed the potential inclusion of WtE in the EU ETS and what does it mean for EU environment goals.
Some highlights of the discussion:
In her opening remarks Ella Stengler, CEWEP’s Managing Director, reminded that waste management practices across Europe remain highly diverse. In fact, eight Member States still landfill more than half of their municipal waste, making it difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all solution at EU level.
In her keynote speech, Letizia Moratti, MEP, pointed out the complexity of integrating different policies:
“I believe it is important to look at the connection between climate policy and the circular economy. These two areas are often treated as separate: waste management on the one side and emission reduction on the other. In practice they are co-dependent. This becomes particularly relevant when discussing the potential inclusion of the waste sector in the ETS.”
Mette Quinn of DG CLIMA highlighted during Panel 1 how carbon pricing and complementary waste policies must reinforce each other:
“We very much support that we have a broad framework around waste that includes circular economy policies. Also we need producer-oriented policies to share the responsibility upstream, we need to look at stronger EPR schemes.”
And further:
“We need financial tools, we need to support abatement solutions both for the operators and for local authorities.”
Alessandra Moretti, MEP, contributed a political view on the issue:
“I do agree with linking ETS with the EPR <…>. Polluter pays principle is key for the S&D group, one of the main principles guiding our environmental policy. It’s simple for us: those who generate the pollutants should be responsible and pay for putting it into the environment. <…>
It prevents transferring the price to consumers, pushes industries to change their production toward more sustainable models. This is why we believe this principle should apply to the broadest possible spectrum of productive sectors.”
Closing the loop at the end of Panel 2, Karolina D’Cunha of DG ENV emphasised that the EU faces both climate change and resource depletion, and that the ETS alone is insufficient – requiring a broader, comprehensive mix of policies.
“To achieve both the circularity goals and climate objectives and also secure our economic stability, said Karolina D’Cunha, we need broad ecosystemic measures. The ETS is an incentive, it is supposed to help both transitions but of course on its own is not going to achieve those goals. We need to address landfills, we need to address plastics, and we need complementary measures to also remain competitive and have a just transition.”
For us in CEWEP, a key takeaway from this discussion is clear: we need to maintain a strong and consistent link between climate and environmental legislation.
The Waste-to-Energy sector is committed to decarbonisation but this must be aligned with:
On behalf of the organisers CEWEP would like to thank once again all the speakers and participants that contributed to this event. Your participation was very valuable!
This event was organised by CEWEP (Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants) & ESWET (European Waste-to-Energy Technology Suppliers).
Photos (Please note the mandatory copyrights for these photos: ©Elio Germani 2026)
CEWEP-ESWET Joint Policy Brief on Waste & EU ETS
ABOUT THE ORGANISERS
CEWEP, the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, is the umbrella association of the operators of Waste-to-Energy (incineration with energy recovery) plants, representing about 434 plants from 24 countries.
ESWET, European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy Technology, is a European association representing manufacturers in the field of Waste-to-Energy Technology. ESWET member companies have built and supplied over 95% of the Waste-to-Energy plants in operation in Europe.
Photos © Elio Germani 2026
Photos
(Please note the mandatory copyrights for these photos: ©Elio Germani 2026)
