Milking the EU’s carbon market cash cow for industry

Rather than propose amendments to the EU’s Emissions Trading System that would take the heat off the climate and serve society, European parliamentarians are squabbling over the quantity of freebies to offer polluting industries. The process of revamping the EU’s Emissions Trading System is in full swing.  Members of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee have …

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger [1]

Two key elements to get right in the EU carbon market review The upcoming revision of the EU carbon market rules is an opportunity to ensure that industries covered by it cut their pollution in line with the EU Green Deal objectives and the Paris Climate Agreement. Agreeing on a faster pace at which emissions …

Time to steer shipping into the EU carbon market

First published on Euractiv The UN shipping body’s failure to agree on immediate climate measures means the incoming European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, must make good of her promise to include the maritime sector under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) last week once again postponed decisions on concrete …

Taxing carbon at the EU border? Only if free pollution permits go

First published on Carbon Pulse October 17, 2019 As part of her “European Green Deal”, incoming EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to introduce a carbon border tax to “ensure that European companies can compete on a level playing field”. This is a new wind coming from the executive branch of the European Union …

Shipping must stay the course and agree on effective climate measures, including a pollution price

A year after the UN’s shipping body agreed to cut emissions from the sector by at least 50% by 2050, a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in London failed to deliver concrete measures to achieve this goal – a course that must be corrected at the next session. Carbon pricing will play an important …

Industry should stop clinging on to pollution freebies and start focusing on climate solutions

A Luxembourg court has confirmed that its government can reclaim free pollution permits that were given to steelmaker ArcelorMittal to cover emissions at a closed plant under the EU Emission Trading System. While the big polluters cling on to the very profitable free allocation under Europe’s carbon market, solutions exist that would set the industry …