Brussels, 10/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - We can now breathe a sigh of relief over the short-term reform of the ETS, now that its adoption is expected soon. On Tuesday 10 December, the European Parliament ratified (385 votes to 284, with 24 abstentions) the informal agreement negotiated with the Council on the proposal to temporarily backload 900 million surplus allowances on the European energy market at the beginning of the third trading period (2013-2020), this move being exceptional, and the Commission's intervention on the market not to be repeated.
Mathias Groote (S&D Germany), the chairman of the environment committee, was relieved that this proposal had received a clear majority in an attempt to increase fuel prices that had fallen to €5 per tonne (see EUROPE 10980). The Council will still have to ratify the agreement so that the decision amending the ETS directive can be formally adopted. It will do this on 16 December next, without debate.
Chris Davies (ALDE, United Kingdom) was pleased with the vote and said that this is nothing less than a regulatory adjustment that has become a test for the EU's whole climate strategy. He added that the ETS had managed to reduce CO2 emissions from major industrial plants but had failed to promote low carbon investment on the scale it had hoped for. The Greens/EFA are delighted with this result and Yannick Jadot (Greens, France) said that it “would at least save the only economic tool the EU has for encouraging member states to respect their national commitments”. He did warn, however, that “we are, nevertheless, a long way off a climate goal that is able to tackle the stakes at play. The price per tonne of CO2 emissions will remain derisory”. The EPP on the other hand, is unhappy and argues that this backloading of allowances will not help job creation or lower energy bills. “With higher energy bills, industry keeps abandoning Europe. This trend must be reversed”, said Eija-Riitta Korhola, EPP Group shadow rapporteur on the timing of auctions of greenhouse gas allowances.
Greenpeace welcomed the vote but emphasised that the temporary backloading of 900 million allowances would only have a short-term effect and that the reintroduction of these allowances on the market could undermine the post-2020 climate and energy efforts made by the EU. Joris den Blanken, director of the Greenpeace European Office, said that only the cancellation of certain allowances and robust energy climate targets for 2020-2030 could exorcise the carbon demons. (AN/transl.fl)