On Wednesday 15 April, the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment (ENVI) adopted by a comfortable majority (58 votes in favour, 9 against, 9 abstentions) its negotiating position on the proposal for a targeted revision of the market stability reserve for the Emissions Trading System 2 (ETS 2) extended to the building and road transport sectors (see EUROPE 13761/2).
MEPs believe that when the price of carbon exceeds €45/tonne of CO2 equivalent (2020 price), the European Commission should react more quickly to price peaks by mobilising emission allowances from the first month, instead of two months as initially recommended.
Instead of phasing out unused allowances transferred to the market stability reserve from January 2031, the parliamentary committee recommends a gradual process whereby 50% of unused allowances would lapse on 1 January 2034, before being phased out completely at the beginning of 2036.
To limit the potentially negative social repercussions of the ETS 2, MEPs propose that measures be considered to support households in their efforts to decarbonise. They argue that Member States could temporarily exempt residential housing if they have set specific targets for reducing CO2 emissions by 2030 (Regulation 2023/857).
“We have proposed concrete measures to extend the €45 cap beyond 2029 and to lower it through indexation to 2026 prices”, said Danuše Nerudová (EPP, Czech). The Commission should also “strengthen the Social Climate Fund to ensure that the ETS 2 system is made for citizens”, she added.
The European Parliament will be asked to confirm the ENVI Committee’s position at its plenary session in Strasbourg at the end of April.
In February, the Council of the EU adopted the Commission’s initial proposal without any changes (see EUROPE 13811/3).
To see the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/lkm (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)