Good for the climate and jobs
 

Today, after two and a half years of negotiations the representatives of the Council of Ministers signed the reform of the EU-Emission Trading Scheme for the timeframe from 2021 until 2030. Beforehand the reform was already brokered by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. Besides the traditionally sceptical countries like Poland, Great Britain, due to the Brexit, also raised doubts about its support of the reform in the Council of Ministers.


The environmental policy spokesman, Dr. Peter Liese, of the EPP-Group in the European Parliament welcomed the result: “I am very happy that there was a majority in the Council. The reform is good for climate protection. It helps us to reach the Paris climate goals. Innovative companies will be rewarded and we will on one hand secure jobs and on the other hand create new ones.”
The EU-Emission Trading Scheme covers 45% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the European Union(the cap for fixed installations in 2013 was 2,084 billion).


Lastly the system wasn’t working effectively because the price per ton of CO² only varied around 5 Euros .”We can expect that the price per ton of CO² will multiply by five to approximately 25 Euros due to the reform. It was also adopted that not only more allowances will be kept in reserve, but also that for the first time allowances will be taken out of the market. Experts expect that these allowances will amount for a total number of 2 billion” said Liese.
In the same time, we managed to better address the interests of the energy intensive industry. If a company produces on the highest level of technology it will get its’ allowances for free. For this reason the percentage of free allowances will rise to about 3.5%. Companies which already produce ecofriendly or invest in eco-friendliness will benefit and this is good for our climate.” said Liese


The question arises for whom the reform will create disadvantages. Liese’s answer to this question: “The ones who think they can earn money with old foul-mouths, won’t be able to be successful.”