Brussels
The European Commission has told Belgium and The Netherlands that it has to set tougher greenhouse gas emissions quotas on their industries. Belgium was told to cut permits by 7.6 percent and The Netherlands by 5.1 percent.
Stavros Dimas, E.U. Commissioner for the Environment. said that the "decisions reinforce the strong signal we gave with the first set of decisions in November that Europe is fully committed to achieving its Kyoto targets and to making the emissions trading scheme a successful weapon for fighting climate change that others can emulate."
The European Commission said that it could accept the plan of the two countries to allocate tradable emissions quotas only after they will trim back caps for the 200!-2012 period.
The emission quotas are seen as the cornerstone of the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) under which industrial polluters can buy and sell unused credits.
This system is intended to help the European Union to cut carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, but the credibility has been shaken, as member states have handed out more permits to pollutes than the industry needed.
The E.U. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is the key to Commissioner Dima's intention to make the European Union a global leader in the fight against climate change. He made it clear that he is determined to avoid a repeat of the first trading period from 2005 to 2007, that jeopardized the system as the value of permits fell.
The Commissions demand have caused discontent in some countries and they indicated that they might appeal the Commission's decisions.
The Commission is clamping down on European Union member states who over-allocate pollution permits that undermine the European carbon market.
The European Commission intends to go ahead with legal action against Denmark and Hungary for having missed the 30.June, 2006 deadline.
In 2006 the European climate exchange traded with 362-million tonnes of carbon worth 7.3-billion Euros.
Israel Rafalovich
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report
The European Commission has told Belgium and The Netherlands that it has to set tougher greenhouse gas emissions quotas on their industries. Belgium was told to cut permits by 7.6 percent and The Netherlands by 5.1 percent.
Stavros Dimas, E.U. Commissioner for the Environment. said that the "decisions reinforce the strong signal we gave with the first set of decisions in November that Europe is fully committed to achieving its Kyoto targets and to making the emissions trading scheme a successful weapon for fighting climate change that others can emulate."
The European Commission said that it could accept the plan of the two countries to allocate tradable emissions quotas only after they will trim back caps for the 200!-2012 period.
The emission quotas are seen as the cornerstone of the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) under which industrial polluters can buy and sell unused credits.
This system is intended to help the European Union to cut carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, but the credibility has been shaken, as member states have handed out more permits to pollutes than the industry needed.
The E.U. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is the key to Commissioner Dima's intention to make the European Union a global leader in the fight against climate change. He made it clear that he is determined to avoid a repeat of the first trading period from 2005 to 2007, that jeopardized the system as the value of permits fell.
The Commissions demand have caused discontent in some countries and they indicated that they might appeal the Commission's decisions.
The Commission is clamping down on European Union member states who over-allocate pollution permits that undermine the European carbon market.
The European Commission intends to go ahead with legal action against Denmark and Hungary for having missed the 30.June, 2006 deadline.
In 2006 the European climate exchange traded with 362-million tonnes of carbon worth 7.3-billion Euros.
Israel Rafalovich
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report