Property
E.ON Urges Action To Save European Carbon Trade: Paper
FRANKFURT | Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:31pm EDT (Reuters) – Europe’s effort to protect the climate faces “a decade of stagnation” without quick action to save the EU carbon market, the chief executive of German utility E.ON said in a newspaper interview on Saturday. “European emissions trading is a patient on his deathbed; either we cure him quickly, or he dies,” Johannes Teyssen told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “And that would have unpredictable negative consequences, not only for climate protection,” he added. The European Parliament on April 16 rejected a Commission proposal to temporarily remove some of the oversupply that has overwhelmed the $148 billion market for permits to emit carbon dioxide, sending the market to a record low and raising questions about its survival. As a result, investors will find it no longer profitable to put their money into clean technologies, Teyssen said. “Money will start flowing back into an economic activity that should have been consigned to history,” he added. While utility companies supported the Commission proposal, energy intensive industries opposed it, arguing it would push up energy costs when Europe is already suffering a competitive disadvantage compared with the United States, which has benefited from abundant supplies of shale gas. In the interview Teyssen denied that his stance was in part aimed at making energy from brown coal , such as that produced by rival utility RWE, more expensive. “Nonsense. It’s not about hurting the competition. We are all having a hard enough time as it is,” he said. “Carbon dioxide must have a price and if emissions trading is irreparable, then we will need a tax that countries can introduce on their own,” he said, adding that the UK was already moving in this direction. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Continue reading
EU Sets Terms For Global Aviation Climate Talks
Last updated on 1 May 2013, 8:08 am – Contact the team at info@rtcc.org EU: The EU has set the terms necessary for it to continue to discount international airlines from its regional carbon trading scheme. Jos Delbeke, director general of the European Commission’s climate action directorate said an agreement in principle to allow all states to take part in a global deal and a timetable for that agreement would be necessary to preven tit from overturning its “ stop the clock ” measures. The EU stopped asking international airlines using EU airports to take part in its cap and trade system on the condition that a global deal was agreed at the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) general assembly in September. ( GreenAir ) The EU has clarified its minimum expectations for the ICAO talks that would prevent it from including international airlines in its own cap and trade scheme again (Source: Virgin) Continue reading
