Prices for greenhouse gas emissions in
Europe
look
set to remain weak through next week as a committee of the European Parliament
Tuesday postponed a decision on how to move forward on a plan to boost carbon
prices, according to traders.
The committee will reconvene next week to decide
whether to send the proposal to the Council of Ministers, which would speed up
the process by getting to direct negotiations between countries, or to put it
to the European Parliament, which could drag out the process in multiple
readings, they add.
"The later they do it, the worse it is," a trader
says, adding that implementation will be more difficult in the second half of
the year, as most of this year's allowances will already have been sold. The
price of EU CO2 allowances dropped 16% to EUR4.10 per ton after the decision to
delay, from EUR4.90 earlier this morning. The emissions price has somewhat
recovered and at 0927 GMT was between EUR4.58 and EUR4.61 per ton.