EU members pass carbon market scheme, other climate laws
The EU’s 27 member states on Tuesday approved a reform of the bloc’s so-called carbon market, which is expected to make it more expensive for companies to pollute in Europe, improving the main tool the EU has to discourage carbon dioxide emissions in the industrial sector.
The changes to the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), more commonly referred to as the bloc’s carbon market, are one of five new laws passed on Tuesday after being proposed by the European Commission and following a favorable vote in the European Parliament. last week. .
The approval was announced during a meeting of the bloc’s Environment ministers in Brussels.
What is the carbon market?
Since 2005, European factories and power stations have had to purchase permits to cover their CO2 emissions, with prices becoming more prohibitive as their use increases against their sector’s norms.
The idea is to create financial incentives to keep checking emissions and fines for not doing so – and generate funds for climate-related projects.
It applies to power generation industries, energy intensive industries and aviation sector. Eventually it will be expanded to cover other greenhouse gases besides CO2, such as methane and nitrogen oxides.
The law’s existence coincided with the 43% drop in these sectors in the EU, but it’s harder to determine what share of that might be correlation and what share might be coincidence, amid a number of partially related emissions advances that help cap emissions.
The changes will establish stricter targets and tougher penalties over time.
“The new rules raise the overall ambition for emission reductions by 2030 in sectors covered by the EU ETS to 62% compared to 2005 levels,” the EU said of the changes.
Source: DW
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