Industrial rehabilitation programme: Companies reducing carbon footprint will be given priority

Tunisian companies, especially exporters, which plan to reduce their carbon footprints by lowering carbon and gas emissions, will be the first beneficiaries of the rehabilitation programme and its interventions, said Kamel Hendaoui, Director General of the Industrial Rehabilitation Programme at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

In an interview granted to TAP, Hendaoui said that a new mechanism dedicated to the carbon footprint of the industrial rehabilitation programme is currently being examined, in addition to the possible granting of specific premiums.

The funding in question will be granted through the Industrial Competitiveness Development Fund, in a first phase, he explained.

Hendaoui recalled that since COP 25, the issue of reducing carbon emissions to protect the environment and the ocean has been raised.

He added that several countries had focused their work on introducing a tax on polluting companies (those who pollute the most pay more taxes).

However, these taxes will turn into a new non-tariff barrier for exporting companies that do not comply with carbon and gas emission reduction standards, he said.

He recalled that this measure will constitute an obstacle for Tunisian exporting companies that do not have programmes and mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions. These companies will see an increase in the cost of their exports and will lose their competitiveness in foreign markets, he said.

For Hendoui, ‘it is essential for Tunisian companies to join programmes to reduce carbon emissions from import, production and export’.

On the subject of how the industrial rehabilitation programme can support Tunisian companies to reduce carbon emissions, the director said that the creation of a new mechanism under the rehabilitation programme is being examined to encourage companies.

He further indicated that there are several methods to reduce carbon emissions, such as the use of carbon dioxide (CO2), during the pre-combustion, oxy-combustion and post-combustion phases, and as a production input.

The Director General of the Upgrading Programme stressed that with the cooperation of the concerned parties, the new approach aims at intensifying the use of renewable energies, in particular the installation of photovoltaic panels to produce electricity, as well as the use of cogeneration and the installation of energy-saving equipment so that Tunisian companies are environment-friendly companies.

He added that Tunisian companies wishing to join the process of reducing carbon emissions will have priority to benefit from the industrial upgrading programme, as well as the necessary premiums, pending the development of a new mechanism for this purpose.

Director General of Electricity and Energy Transition at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines, Belhassen Chiboub, had stressed that Tunisian exporting companies are preparing for a new challenge by 2025.

This challenge is related to the obligation imposed by the European Union (EU), for an environmental standard relating to the reduction of gas emissions, through what is called the carbon footprint, as well as the submission of a very high tax to each company that does not meet this standard.

Speaking at the opening of a training session organised by the Ministry, in cooperation with the German Cooperation Programme (GIZ), for a number of journalists on the theme “the system of self-production of electricity from renewable energy (from February 13 to 15, 2023), the official pointed out that Tunisian companies, especially exporting companies that want to export to the EU, must adopt the new standard relating to the carbon footprint to preserve their position on the EU markets and strengthen their competitiveness.

He called for the imperative to accelerate the adhesion of Tunisian companies, all sizes and activities, to the programmes of electricity production from renewable energies which remain an obligation and not a choice, in terms of compliance with new environmental standards, and in terms of reducing the consumption bill of hydrocarbons and petroleum products, which are determining factors in the increase in the cost of products.

He noted that Tunisia has accelerated, during the last period, the launch of electricity production projects from renewable energies, through the publication of decrees aimed at creating a change in legal matters, especially in light of the widening of the country’s energy deficit which has reached 52%.

He also stressed the important reforms introduced on the Energy Transition Fund, through the intensification of premiums and aids to families and companies, to produce electricity from renewable energy, as well as the launch of tenders for projects exceeding 1 megawatt.

Source: Tap News Agency