| Sourced From |
May 28 (Bloomberg) — European Union carbon allowances and United Nations credits fell as UN-overseen regulators prepared to increase supply and EU lawmakers considered protections against a possible surplus for much of the next decade.
EU allowances for December delivery declined 1.1 percent to 15.32 euros ($18.91) a metric ton on London’s European Climate Exchange as of 8:38 a.m. while UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for the same month dropped 1.7 percent to 12.46 euros.
Allowances in the European carbon market, the world’s largest emissions-trading program, have risen 24 percent this year as utilities purchased permits and the economic recession eased. The EU said it will probably need approval from member states to tighten its 2020 emissions limits to achieve its target price of about 30 euros.
Introduction of quality restrictions on UN credits “is an option that the EU could use even before member states’ decision on more ambitious climate goals,” said Yvon Slingenberg, emissions-unit head in the European Commission, yesterday at the Carbon Expo conference in Cologne, Germany. The commission regulates the EU program.
“Any restrictions would start to be binding between 6 months and 36 months after they have been approved,” Slingenberg said in an interview. “Realistically, any changes shouldn’t come into force before 2012.”
Officials operating the UN market for carbon offsets, which can be used for compliance in the EU, are fighting to prove they can deliver as much as a 10-fold increase in credits, board member Hugh Sealy said May 28. “We may need to go from 400-500 projects a year to 4,000-5,000,” Sealy said in an interview.
–With assistance by Mathew Carr, Editors: Jonas Bergman, John Buckley
Related posts: