Poland calls for suspension of emissions trading system

Factory in Pontnow, Poland. File photoWARSAW, Jul 25Poland is proposing to suspend the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for the duration of the gas crisis, Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskva said at a press conference. The European Commission on July 20 proposed a new regulation on coordinated measures to reduce gas demand. It involves the introduction of initially voluntary targets for all EU Member States to reduce gas demand by 15% between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. This corresponds to 45 billion cubic meters of gas. The proposals of the European Commission must be approved by a qualified majority of the EU countries in the Council of the EU before they come into force. Energy ministers will discuss the proposal in Brussels on Wednesday.FT: The EU is preparing to sacrifice climate to reduce dependence on Russia»In many countries, moving away from gas or reducing gas means more coal. What about ETS? For us, a solidarity mechanism that would support our economy, that would support our energy security, would have been the suspension of ETS until the moment of its comprehensive reform,» Moscow said. “Nobody is talking about this solidarity. Tomorrow (at the meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels – ed.) we will raise this topic. Suspension of this mechanism would help and support many countries in further energy security,” she added. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) operates on the cap-and-trade principle: a maximum allowable total emission level for polluting facilities is set, which is then divided into allowances and distributed among the facilities. If the level of emissions in a production facility is higher than the quota level, then this production must buy a permit for additional emissions. The system covers about half of EU emissions and covers power generation, oil production, metallurgy and construction industries, paper industry, domestic civil aviation and others. The EU ETS was launched back in 2005, but until 2013 the vast majority of permits were issued free of charge. Then the rules were tightened, already at least 40% of quotas were distributed through auctions, and the total number of allocated permits began to decrease annually. Finally, since 2021, approximately 57% of the total number of quotas has been traded. The EU has set itself the goal of achieving climate neutrality by the middle of the century — when the total amount of emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere will be zero. It can be achieved by reducing emissions and using technologies to capture and store harmful gases. The transition to climate neutrality will require a restructuring of energy production and consumption, a serious reduction in emissions, and an increase in the consumption of renewable energy. climate