European CO2 emissions reach turning point?
April 23rd 2008 The European Union's carbon dioxide emissions increased by just over 1% during 2007 according to data released by the European Union, but traders are predicting the second phase of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which started at the beginning of this year will see this figure turn.
The ETS mandates companies to offset pollution once they exceed industry limits. Over 10,000 power plants and factories are registered on the scheme, 94% of which have submitted data showing they emitted 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2 last year, a rise of about 1 per cent on what they emitted in 2006.
However as measures implemented to meet tighter pollution caps which were set earlier this year start to take effect, traders predict this figure will turn.
Director of EU emissions trading at Point Carbon, Henrik Hasselknippe, says that while the first stage of the scheme failed to cut emissions this may well change in the second stage.
"If we had seen an unexpected fall in emissions in 2007 that would reflect that firms had already invested to cut emissions, which would mean they would have to buy in fewer credits to cover their emissions during phase II," said Hasselknippe .
"The figures show emissions haven't fallen as a result of the scheme up to this point, but the Commission has really turned things around this year." he explained.
"The figures for 2008 and 2009 will be really interesting as we will begin to see if the higher price of carbon we are experiencing now, and the expectation it will climb further from 2013 when the third phase of the scheme, are encouraging installations to invest in cutting emissions."
However environmental group Greenpeace suggested the figures show the scheme is failing:
"From the numbers, it looks like emissions are going up and that proves that the ETS does not work, it means we are not protecting the climate," Brussels-based spokeswoman Mahi Sideridou told Reuters news agency.
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