“The price of the new ETS II for heating and road transport will most likely be less than 50% than the ETS I price.” This is the assessment of the rapporteur of ETS, the biggest climate law ever of the European Union, Peter Liese. “Citizens can be sure that nightmares that have been linked with ETS II are not realistic. The impact assessment of the European Commission suggests a price of 45 euros in the first years. I think when the ETS II starts in 2027, the price will be significantly lower for three reasons: First of all, we will have a frontloading of ETS II to finance the Social Climate Fund. And second, the Parliament has successfully insisted on a price cap mechanism, when the price of 45 euros is achieved. The third reason is that because of the current energy crisis, many people go for all possible measures to reduce their fossil fuel consumption for example by changing their habits or invest in more efficient heating systems. By 2027 this will already have reduced the emissions and this is the most important. Member States now have the legal obligation to spend ETS I and ETS II money for the purpose of climate and just transition.
“This is an important step in jointly tackling the three most important crises of the last weeks and months," said Peter Liese on the occasion of the agreement reached between Parliament and Member States on REPowerEU on Wednesday morning. "It is imperative that we become independent from Russian energy imports. Since the outbreak of the war, we have paid over 120 billion euros for energy supplies to Russia. That is significantly more than the Russian military budget accounted for last year. At the same time, we urgently need to ensure that citizens and industry are relieved of high energy costs. But all this must not be at the expense of climate protection. Our 2030 targets are in place. I am very pleased that we have succeeded in reaching this agreement."
Read more: Institutions agree on REPowerEU: Important step to tackle three major crises
The European Parliament, the Council of Ministers represented by the Czech presidency and the European Commission agreed on a compromise for the biggest climate law ever. “The ETS will reduce emissions in the European Union by 1500 Mt CO2 until 2030. This means the contribution to the 2030 target of the European Union is 25 times higher than the disputed legislation on CO2 emission standards for cars and vans. We will get a lot for the climate at minimal prices. We will give breathing space for all citizens and industry in difficult times and we will give a clear signal to European industry that it pays off to invest in green technologies in Europe,” said Peter Liese, main rapporteur of the European Parliament and environmental spokesman of the biggest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats). The negotiations lasted 29 hours and the final agreement was only made on Sunday morning at 02 a.m. “It was really tough but it was worth it,” said Peter Liese.
Read more: Parliament, Council and Commission agree on a deal for the biggest climate law ever
Early Tuesday morning, the EU institutions agreed on the design of the carbon cap and trade mechanism CBAM. "With this, we have created an instrument that signals to the world: Whoever wants to sell their products on the European market must pay more attention to the climate from now on. This applies to steel, aluminum, fertilizer, cement, electricity and additionally now also to hydrogen. Pre- and post-products as well as indirect emissions are also to be monitored in some sectors. I support a number of points that have been agreed so far, including the fact that we do not want to leave the control and implementation of the CO2 price for EU imports entirely to the member states. It is important that the EU keeps an eye on the harmonic application of the mechanism in the member states so that we avoid a situation where imports continue to take place without CO2 pricing in the country that has the weakest controls," explained Peter Liese, environmental spokesman for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).
Read more: Parliament and member states agree on carbon cap-and-trade mechanism CBAM