By Anne-France White - 28th November 2006
Stavros Dimas is expected to criticise the national allocation plans for CO2 emissions published by several EU countries.
The EU environment commissioner will on Wednesday assess the plans submitted by a first set of member states: France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK.
Dimas has indicated that several of the member states have doled out more pollution allowances than necessary.
This could weaken the EU’s emissions trading scheme, as the scarcity of permits is key to the success of the system.
Dimas’s crackdown is central to the commission’s attempt to rescue the scheme’s credibility – and its own reputation for environmental leadership – ahead of the crucial next stage from 2008 to 2012.
While she would not go into details, a spokeswoman said several countries “will be faced with making severe reductions” to their proposed allowances.
The commission will be able to reject national allocation plans either in part or in their totality.
Countries whose proposals are rejected in the report will have to submit new plans, and could be taken to court if they object to Dimas’s findings.
France, Germany and Poland were among those giving out the biggest number of carbon credits during the first phase of the plan, which began in 2005 and ends next year.
Only a handful of countries – among them Britain and Ireland – allocated allowances in a way that accurately matched the needs of big companies.
The commission is also faced with late submissions from several countries.
A spokeswoman said the commission still has not received 2008-12 national plans from Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy and Spain – in spite of a June 30 deadline.
Brussels launched infringement proceedings against the six in October, and will increase the pressure if they have not submitted their plans by the end of December.
Under the emissions trading scheme, member states set a national cap on CO2 emissions from over 10,000 energy-intensive plants such as power plants, steel factories and oil refineries.
Within the limits of their national cap agreed under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, EU countries issue tradable allowances to the companies to emit a certain level of CO2 each year.
This is intended to give industry a concrete financial incentive to cut emissions, as companies are able to sell their surplus allowances.
The EU hopes that the innovative scheme will serve as the nucleus of a future international scheme extending to the rest of the globe.
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