24 January 2011

EU plans phased relaunch of carbon spot trading

Sources say Member States will have to demonstrate security of their carbon registries

The European Commission is expected to cautiously resume spot trading in its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) over the next few weeks, but only after individual member states have demonstrated that they have improved the cyber security of their registries.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had frozen the spot trading element of the ETS until at least January 26, after a Czech firm said some 475,000 emissions allowances (EUAs) had been stolen from its national registry.

According to Jos Delbeke, the head of the Commission's climate action division, up to two million EUAs were stolen, worth €28.7m at Thursday's prices.

The Czech carbon registry yesterday confirmed it would be closed indefinitely, meaning a wholesale reopening of the market is unlikely next Wednesday.

Additionally, the EU has admitted that in total 14 of the 27 member states do not meet high enough security standards.

(BusinessGreen)

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