The CEO of Orion, a major carbon black supplier, has warned that current EU climate policy risks displacing industrial emissions and jobs to Asia rather than cutting them globally. The warning came in Orion's 2025 Sustainability Report, which challenges the design of the EU Emissions Trading System. The report argues that the EU ETS, now in its fourth phase, may create carbon leakage by pushing energy-intensive production to regions with weaker climate rules. Orion's CEO Corning Painter says the policy design needs to account for global emissions impact, not just European reductions. This matters for carbon markets because it highlights a core tension: regional carbon pricing can reduce local emissions while increasing global ones if production simply moves. The debate over border adjustments and carbon leakage is central to ETS reform discussions.
