Business leaders write to MEPs to urge timely reform of EU-ETS
The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group
The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group has written to MEPs, calling on them to reform the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) to include a Market Stability Reserve (MSR) by 2017 at the latest, to keep the continent on track for developing a low carbon economy and energy system.
A Market Stability Reserve would reduce the amount of emissions allowance units (EUAs) that the EU is permitted to auction on the global market, should the upper threshold of EUAs already in circulation be exceeded.
The CLG said that introducing the MSR earlier rather than later “will give the necessary signals to investors and industry to effectively transition to a low carbon economy and energy system” and “mitigate any downward pressure on the carbon price from structural economic changes or from other energy policies.”
Philippe Joubert, Chair, The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group, said:
“The EU-ETS is the cornerstone of EU climate policy, so we have to get it right – it must be reformed to drive forward green growth sooner rather than later.
“Establishing a Market Stability Reserve by 2017, with the 900 million back-loaded emissions allowances included in the Reserve from the outset, will help to rebalance the emissions trading market, enable a more robust carbon price, and stimulate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”