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Fraud in carbon trading systems is being targeted by a new campaign from the European Commission.

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Tags: carbon offsetting, Carbon Trading, European Union

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MEPs are calling for 350 million allowances from the EU emissions trading scheme to be set aside to support investment for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CCS, EU, European Union

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EU environment ministers have asked the European Commission to find ways of calculating carbon footprints and assessing environmental performance of products throughout their life cycles. But the idea has attracted fierce criticism from industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Carbon Label, EU, European Union

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DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Research and Markets ( ) has announced the addition of the “EU Low Carbon Society Challenge and Environmental Business Market” report to their offering. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Carbon Reduction, CO2 Recuction, EU, European Union

The EU must develop a comprehensive set of policies in readiness to tackle carbon leakage, the loss of business to companies in regions unconstrained by emissions trading schemes or carbon taxes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
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Tags: Carbon Creits, Carbon Leakage, European Union

that the United Nations Environment Program () has revised its estimates for the supply of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). It had previously expected to issue 1.51 billion CERs

Tags: Carbon Credit Prices, CDM, CER, Clean Development Mechanism, EU, EU ETS, EUA, European Union, European Union Allowances, Kyoto Protocol, UN, UNEP, United Nations

Earlier this week, and the kicked-off their series of global emissions indexes with -

Tags: Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Index, CCX, CER Index, Chicago Climate Exchange, Emissions Trading, EU ETS, European Union, Kyoto Protocol

lawmakers have proposed that industries should be permitted to use carbon offsets to meet that they are required to make under the European Union’s caps from 2013 to 2020. If the proposals of the EU parliament industry committee are accepted, that would make way for greater use of offsets than what was proposed by the Executive Commission in January.

The lawmakers want to permit industries to be able to offset a fourth of the greenhouse gas reductions they need to make compared to 2008-2012, irrespective of whether an agreement is reached to extend/replace the .

If the proposals go through, that would translate into lower costs for the EU industries to meet their emission targets and also give a boost to the growing carbon market.

Tags: Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Market, ETS, EU, EU ETS, European Union, Kyoto Protocol

A report released by the green group states that auto makers are , which will make it hard to meet the CO2 targets proposed by the . The auto industry will have to attain a 17% reduction in carbon emissions in order to meet the 2012 EU targets.

The EU has pledged that by 2020, emissions would go down by at least 20% of 1990 levels and the car industry is supposed to contribute towards the reduction goal by cutting down emissions from new cars from the current 158 grams/km to 130 grams/km by the year 2012.

The top five brands that are on track to meet the targets are PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Toyota and Honda; while Nissan, Mazda and Suzuki will need to make huge CO2 cuts if they want to keep up.

With cars being one of the biggest sources of emissions, the proposed CO2 cuts will go a long way in curbing pollution. But with the auto industry trying to resist EU’s proposal, it remains to be seen whether it will actually materialize.

Tags: EU, EU Auto Industry, European Union, T&E

The British government confirmed today that only 7% of the European Union Allowances (EUAs) will be auctioned. A that the government may auction around 10% of the allowances, which is the maximum allowed by EU regulations. The analysis was based on reports that the additional auction might be used instead of a windfall tax to cut some profits from energy firms and use them on the fuel-poor people.

However, the confirmed 7% allowances would be auctioned, amounting to about 85 million allowances during phase II (2008-2012). The exact number of allowances available in each auction would be officially announced by the Treasury at least one month prior to the auction date. although the date of the first auction has not been set yet.

Complete details of the emissions scheme can be viewed and eligibility criteria for participation in the auction can be read .

Tags: Action, Carbon Permits, Energy Firms, EU, EUA, EUAs, European Union, European Union Allowances, Phase II, UK

After three months of rising steadily in April, May and June, EU permit prices slumped in July and then recovered somewhat in the first week of August. Bloomberg reports that the prices of after the economy contracted and RWE’s decision to purchase more EUAs for its UK operations. EUAs for December reached USD 35.37/metric ton, an increase by 8 cents and CER prices dropped to USD 29.05

The EU economy, which is a global leader in greenhouse gas trading - the GDP fell by 0.2 per cent as compared to the first quarter as a result of slowing down of major EU countries.

Also, the UK unit of Germany’s second biggest power generator announced that it will need to purchase more EUAs than expected because it will be using a greater amount of coal than previously thought.

Tags: CER, CERs, Certified Emission Reductions, EUA, EUAs, European Union, European Union Allowances

The European Union’s plan to include the with the UK government unwilling to earmark auction revenues for funding eco-projects. The proposal to make the aviation sector a part of was put up for vote at the European Parliament last month and

The cap-and-trade scheme is scheduled to take-off in 2012 and all airlines originating or landing at EU airports will be subject to it. It was agreed that EU would dole out 85 per cent of the carbon permits for free , the remaining 15 per cent to be auctioned off and the revenues thus earned by governments “be used to tackle climate change in the EU and third countries..”.

However, now the UK government is strongly opposed the deal as it does not want “hypothecate revenue”, that is, it does not want to set aside the auction revenues solely for environmental projects. A government spokesperson said that the UK governement wanted flexibility in making financial decisions and that “does not mean we do not spend on green initiatives, but we do not assign different pots of revenue to do that.”

Tags: Aviation EU ETS, Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Trade, EU, EU ETS, European Union