The European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) criticised the decision by the
European Parliament today to reject a proposal to reform the
EU’
s Emissions Trading System (ETS). The proposal sought to send a
signal of confidence on the future of the carbon price by ‘
back-loading’
or postponing emissions
allowances from 2013-2015 until later in phase three of the ETS, which ends in
2020.
“
By failing to support the ETS, the European Parliament is
contradicting its own goals of providing Europe with a secure, clean and
affordable climate and energy framework towards 2020”
,
said EREC’
s Secretary General, Josche Muth, commenting
on today’
s plenary vote in
Strasbourg.
“
The rejection of the Commission’
s proposal
to postpone the auction of 900 million allowances effectively renders the ETS
impotent as a tool for shifting investments into less polluting generation
technologies”
, he added. The amount of electricity
generated from coal is rising at annualised rates of as much as 50% in some
Member States, which is, to a large extent, due to the very low CO2 price. Since
coal is by the far the most polluting source of electricity, this belittles
European environmental and climate aspirations.
“
The onus now falls on the European Council to show leadership on
climate and energy by providing ambitious and binding 2030 targets for
renewables, efficiency and emissions reductions”
, said
Josche Muth. “
The correct political vision could unlock
investments and give new impetus for emissions reductions today and in the
longer term”
.