EUROFER: Removing carbon allowances still unnecessary despite modifications

The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has said that the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee has reviewed the European Commission's proposal to temporarily remove 900 million CO2 emissions allowances from the market, after the European Parliament refused to accept the proposal as it was in April. The ENVI Committee has accepted the proposal with several modifications.
 
According to the modifications, the reintroduction of withheld certificates shall begin in the year immediately following the year in which certificates were last withheld. Also, the proposal now says that 600 million allowances will be earmarked for financing the development of innovative low-carbon technologies. The new proposal will be voted on in the plenary session of the European Parliament in the beginning of July.
 
"Of course these modifications might be regarded as improvements compared to the original version. It seems that there is less risk now of emissions allowances being removed from the market permanently," Gordon Moffat, director general of EUROFER, commented. He continued, "Still, the proposal represents market interference as well as additional, artificial increases in energy prices. It would have been more helpful if all the political energy that went into meddling with the ETS [emissions trading system] would have been invested in policies that strengthen the competitiveness of European industry."