Climate change
WWF warns against malfunctioning of ETS
By Anne Eckstein | Tuesday 03 April 2012
The verified CO
2 emissions data for 2011 just released by the European Commission show a continuing surplus of emission allowances, leading to the “under-performance” of the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), warns the WWF.The ETS is considered by many as the flagship policy instrument for reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.
The data are published in the EU’s Community independent transaction log (CITL), placed online by theCommission, on 2 April.
According to Jason Anderson, head of climate and energy policy at the WWF European office, the ETS needs to be “urgently fixed” to restore confidence in this policy and avoid further collapse of the carbon price. This should be done by withholding a significant amount of emissions allowances in the short term in the context of the Energy Efficiency Directive, according to the WWF. The organisation finds that the EU ETS emissions ceiling should be lowered to match the objectives of the European Commission’s 2050low-carbon road map.
According to the WWF’s calculations, verified emissions from industrial installations decreased by 2.4% in 2011 from 2010. They remained below the ceiling, thus allowing companies to carry over 155 million quotas to their existing stockpile. “There is so much credit available that is seems likely there will be no need for a net reduction of emissions between now and 2020,” notes the NGO.
The Commission will publish its analysis in early May.
