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EU Considers Auctioning 100 Pct of CO2 Permits |
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| BELGIUM: June 6, 2007 | ||
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BRUSSELS - The European Commission is considering putting an obligation on industry to buy 100 percent of the permits giving them the right to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
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The Commission is "looking at the possibility of 100 percent auctioning," Barbara Helfferich told a regular news briefing. Currently, permits granted under the European Union's emissions trading scheme are mostly given away for free to the companies covered by it. The Commission is conducting a review of the scheme to be presented by the end of the year, which could include recommendations for greater auctioning as well as proposals to add gases and other industrial sectors. The scheme, the 27-nation bloc's key tool to fight climate change, sets limits on the amount of CO2 plants such as power stations and oil refineries may emit. Companies sell permits to emit if they come in below their caps or buy them if they produced more CO2 than allowed. But the fact that those permits are largely given away to industry before they are traded has led to "windfall" profits, especially in the power industry. EU leaders are keen to change that unintended consequence in the third trading phase of the scheme, which begins in 2013. EU environment ministers expressed support over the weekend for more auctioning, though not everyone supported Germany's call that 100 percent of the permits be sold.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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