Brussels, 13/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Is reducing CO2 emissions through the European Union Emissions trading Scheme (EU ETS), as it currently exists, “mission impossible”, wonders WWF? It believes that the EU ETS should, on the contrary, be synonymous with “emissions impossible”.
A WWF study published in 13 June shows that, if care is not taken, what the environmental NGO feels is “one of the world's most important mechanisms to tackle climate change” will be undermined by short-sighted plans to allow European companies to buy their way out of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions at home through the purchase of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project credits. WWF, therefore, urges the European Commission to ensure that the review of the EU ETS results in real carbon emission reductions within Europe, and that the allowance of CDM credits to EU companies is strictly limited to a certain number of high quality, certified projects.
The “Emission impossible?” report looks at the national carbon reduction plans for 2008-2012 of nine EU member states (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain), which have been approved by the Commission, and highlights two points it feels are worrying.
WWF estimates that, in the system's experimental phase (2005-2007), between 88% and 100% of these countries' combined emissions reductions targets under the ETS could be met by buying in cheap emissions credits from outside the EU, through the Clean Development Mechanism, which gives European companies investing in developing countries the right to buy “permits to pollute”. This shows that it is cheaper to buy credits outside Europe than to take action at home, and could mean that the second phase of the ETS (2008-2012) will not produce any significant reduction in emissions in the EU, WWF says.
Secondly, WWF has serious concerns about the quality of some CDM projects. If these projects are not in addition to real emission reduction efforts by member states, WWF says the sale of credits from them could lead to an “actual increase in carbon emissions”.
“If this is not being addressed by governments, Europe is likely to take a serious step backwards during the second phase of the EU ETS trading period,” said Sanjeev Kumar, EU ETS Coordinator for the WWF European Policy Office. The study is available at http: //assets.panda.org/downloads/emission_impossible_final_.pdf (an)