Emission trade future to be revealed

Date: 11/05/06

The future of Europe's trade in carbon emissions could become clearer next Monday (15 May) with the publication of 2005 trading reports from the member states.

The emissions-trading scheme was launched on 1 January last year as a way of encouraging industry to pollute less by making it possible to buy and sell CO2 emission permits.

The price of permits plummeted to EUR 11 per tonne at the start of the month when it became clear that companies in several countries had not needed all of their 2005 allowances.

France, Spain, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Luxembourg all had permits left over at the end of the trading period.

The four biggest EU polluters, which together produce 58% of European CO2 from industry, have not yet released any statistics.

Several analysts suspect that these countries - Poland, Italy, Germany and the UK - may all have exceeded their permits, in which case prices are likely to go back up.

Market prices have swung between about EUR 7/tonne when trading began and EUR 30/tonne earlier this year. This week (10 May) prices hovered around EUR 13/tonne.

Article anticipates the presentation on 15 May 2006 of the 2005 trading reports on greenhouse gas emissions from the EU's Member States.