Power stations in eastern Europe could receive millions of euros of free carbon emission allowances to overcome opposition to a European Union climate pact, The Financial Times reports on its Web site Wednesday.
The French proposal, a copy of which has been obtained by the FT, is intended to address Poland's concerns about the expansion of Europe's emissions trading system, a central pillar of the E.U.'s plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020. Poland and other east European member states have objected to a measure in the original plan that called for electricity utilities to buy all of their emissions allowances at auction, beginning in 2013, the FT reports.