ETS - first Irish compromise could be presented to EU Council in September if Member States do their “summer homework”

The revision of the CO₂ Emissions Trading System (ETS) was at the heart of discussions at the informal meeting of environment ministers from the EU Member States, held in Dublin on Friday 24 July.

While 10 Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia) feel the European Commission’s proposal to reform the system isn’t extensive enough, less than a week after its presentation on 17 July (see EUROPE 13912/1), many countries still haven’t settled on an official position.

This leaves environment ministers with “summer homework” - to spend August developing a clearly defined position, which should allow the Irish Presidency of the EU Council to present an initial compromise text in September, according to an EU Council source.

The Irish Presidency’s objective remains reaching a political agreement by the end of the year, in order to secure an agreement with the European Parliament in the first quarter of 2027 - an ambitious timetable, given the issue’s politically sensitive nature.

For the time being, there’s little common ground on substance. The same source says that at this stage, there’s unanimous agreement that the ETS system needs improvement, and that it must serve the competitiveness of the European economy - but the way this should be achieved differs from one national delegation to another.

Some Member States said the European Commission should already be presenting certain measures from the EU’s post-2030 energy and climate policy framework in order to have an overall view of the ETS, the source also said. A discussion between experts from the Member States and the Commission on the architecture of this policy framework will take place on 24 September, according to a Commission source. 

Discussions also focused on solidarity between Member States regarding the mechanism, in particular for the 10 countries with the lowest GDP, through the Modernisation Fund, the decarbonisation fund, and the investment booster. (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)