EU takes tough line on emissions quotas

Brussels is set to send back over generous national plans on CO2 emissions quotas, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has confirmed.

In a bid to curb the amount of CO2 their industries can pump out the Greek commissioner warned member states on Monday that many National Allocation Plans (NAPs) will be sent back to Europe’s capitals for “amendments” and “corrections”.

“The credibility of the EU’s global leadership on climate change depends on being able to deliver on our commitments to reduce emissions,” said Dimas at a press conference during a meeting of environment ministers in Luxembourg.”

“The second national allocation plans under the Emissions Trading Scheme are an important tool in ensuring this… but if member states put more allowances into the market than are needed to cover real emissions, the scheme will become pointless.”

Dimas said the commission was currently “busy analysing the NAPs that we have received” and anticipated that it would be several weeks before he was in a position to clarify which NAPs would be returned.

But he warned that many of the NAPs did not seem to take sufficient account of the real level of emissions from installations in the scheme. 

“We know what the emissions were in 2005. This is an important yardstick for our evaluation of future allocation plans.”

“However, much to my regret, taken together the first 17 NAPS notified to us propose an emissions cap that is about 15 per cent above the actual emissions level for that year.”

Brussels has been under pressure to take a tougher line on member states NAP quotas after figures revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from the EU15 rose by 0.3 per cent between 2003 and 2004.

Under the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the EU has pledged to cut its CO2 emissions by eight per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Dimas said he had repeatedly warned national capitals that the commission would be tough in its evaluation of NAPs.

“We have to make sure that the NAPs are fulfilling the purpose for which we introduced them; creating scarcity in the market and enabling the members of the EU to achieve their Kyoto targets.”

“It means that many NAPs have to be completed and sent back,” said Dimas

Ask to confirm that they would be sent back to be cut, the commissioner emphatically said “yes”.

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