Commission to discuss auctioning carbon allowances

The European Commission has prepared draft rules for auctioning CO2 allowances under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETSⁱ) from 2013. The European Parliament and the Council will have up to three months to scrutinise the proposal. Adoption of the Regulation is therefore likely in June 2010. The Commission now intends to start the selection process for the auction platform, the clearing or settlement system and the auction monitor.

Opposition from certain Member States has delayed the Commission proposal. A major point of contention has been whether to create a centralised system or let Member States set up their own, the latter position being favoured by France and Germany.

The Commission also gave a presentation on the state of play in preparing for European carbon allowance auctions at the CCAP (Center for Clean Air Policy) workshop in Warsaw on
28 January. The presentation is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/pdf/100128_ccap_warsaw.pdf