EU Council ETS decision: Agreement, but not at any price

Tomorrow’s Environment Council meeting can be a decisive step in reforming of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).

BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer commented: “BusinessEurope has constantly called for an EU ETS that delivers cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions through a meaningful carbon price, and simultaneously safeguards the global competitiveness of Europe’s industries.”

“The reform details have been discussed time and time again and an agreement tomorrow would be an important step forward. But this should not be done at any price.”

“Looking at what is still under discussion among ministers, we consider the following parts to be essential for an agreement:

• Support a 5%-point shift from auctioned to free allowances to protect sectors at risk of investment leakage. The European Parliament has backed this principle with almost 600 MEPs voting in favour;
• Endorse the temporarily doubling of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) intake rate under the aforementioned condition that there will be enough free allowances for the best in class;
• Ensure that governance of the Modernisation Fund is as streamlined as possible to make it effective and to contribute to the long-term decarbonisation goal.”

See further details here.