scholarly journals European union emissions trading system with regard to climate change mitigation in Latvia

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (-1) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilze Pruse
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ghg Emission ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The goal of this paper is to analyse the volumes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the European Union Emissions Trading System’s (EU ETS) participants in Latvia in relation to their participation therein. After describing and discussing the EU ETS mechanism and its operation in Latvia in the period 2005-2010, the interconnectedness between the GHG emissions and the EU ETS participants’ operation is analysed. The analysis concludes that, although the EU ETS has contributed towards GHG emission reduction, due to the growth of the economy, overall GHG emissions from the EU ETS participants in Latvia are increasing.

scholarly journals The European Union Emissions Trading System reduced CO2 emissions despite low prices

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (16) ◽  
pp. 8804-8812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Bayer ◽  
Michaël Aklin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Carbon Markets ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Emissions Trading System ◽  
The Eu

International carbon markets are an appealing and increasingly popular tool to regulate carbon emissions. By putting a price on carbon, carbon markets reshape incentives faced by firms and reduce the value of emissions. How effective are carbon markets? Observers have tended to infer their effectiveness from market prices. The general belief is that a carbon market needs a high price in order to reduce emissions. As a result, many observers remain skeptical of initiatives such as the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), whose price remained low (compared to the social cost of carbon). In this paper, we assess whether the EU ETS reduced CO2 emissions despite low prices. We motivate our study by documenting that a carbon market can be effective if it is a credible institution that can plausibly become more stringent in the future. In such a case, firms might cut emissions even though market prices are low. In fact, low prices can be a signal that the demand for carbon permits weakens. Thus, low prices are compatible with successful carbon markets. To assess whether the EU ETS reduced carbon emissions even as permits were cheap, we estimate counterfactual carbon emissions using an original sectoral emissions dataset. We find that the EU ETS saved about 1.2 billion tons of CO2 between 2008 and 2016 (3.8%) relative to a world without carbon markets, or almost half of what EU governments promised to reduce under their Kyoto Protocol commitments. Emission reductions in sectors covered under the EU ETS were higher.

scholarly journals Integrating Carbon Dioxide Removal Into European Emissions Trading

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfried Rickels ◽  
Alexander Proelß ◽  
Oliver Geden ◽  
Julian Burhenne ◽  
Mathias Fridahl
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
And Storage ◽  
The Eu

In one of the central scenarios for meeting an European Union-wide net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target by 2050, the emissions cap in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) becomes net negative. Despite this ambition, no mechanism allows for the inclusion of CO2 removal credits (CRCs) in the EU ETS to date. Amending the EU ETS legislation is required to create enabling conditions for a net negative cap. Here, we conceptually discuss various economic, legal, and political challenges surrounding the integration of CRCs into the EU ETS. To analyze cap-and-trade systems encompassing negative emissions, we introduce the effective (elastic) cap resulting from the integration of CRCs in addition to the regulatory (inelastic) cap, the latter now being binding for the net emissions only. Given current cost estimates for BECCS and DACCS, minimum quantities for the use of removals, as opposed to ceilings as currently discussed, would be required to promote the near-term integration of such technologies. Instead of direct interaction between the companies involved in emissions trading and the providers of CRCs, the regulatory authority could also transitionally act as an intermediary by buying CRCs and supplying them in turn conditional upon observed allowances prices, for example, by supporting a (soft) price collar. Contrary to a price collar without dedicated support from CRCs, in this case (net) compliance with the overall cap is maintained. EU legislation already provides safeguards for physical carbon leakage concerning CCS, making Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and Direct Air Capture and Storage prioritized for inclusion in the EU ETS. Furthermore, a special opportunity might apply for the inclusion of BECCS installations. Repealing the provision that installations exclusively using biomass are not covered by the ETS Directive, combined with freely allocated allowances to these installations, would allow operators of biomass installations to sell allowances made available through the use of BECCS. Achieving GHG neutrality in the EU by 2050 requires designing suitable incentive systems for CO2 removal, which includes the option to open up EU emissions trading to CRCs.

scholarly journals Price Relationships in the EU Emissions Trading System

2011 ◽  
pp. 212-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Chevallier
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Trading Scheme ◽  
Price Relationships ◽  
Eu Emissions Trading System ◽  
Emissions Trading System ◽  
The Eu

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) constrains industrial polluters to buy/sell CO2 allowances depending on a regional depolluting objective of -8% of CO2 emissions by 2012 compared to 1990 levels. Companies may also buy carbon offsets from developing countries, funding emissions cuts there instead, under a Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This chapter critically analyzes the price relationships in the EU emissions trading system. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) delivers credits that may be used by European companies for their compliance needs. Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) from CDM projects are credits flowing into the global compliance market generated through emission reductions. EUAs (European Union Allowances) are the tradable unit under the EU ETS. Besides, the EU Linking Directive allows the import for compliance into the EU ETS up to 13.4% of CERs on average. This chapter details the idiosyncratic risks affecting each emissions market, be it in terms of regulatory uncertainty, economic activity, industrial structure, or the impact of other energy markets. Besides, based on a careful analysis of the EUA and CER price paths, this chapter assesses common risk factors by focusing more particularly on the role played by the CER import limit within the ETS.

scholarly journals Emissions Trading Hybrids: The Case of the EU ETS

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Woerdman ◽  
Andries Nentjes
Keyword(s):  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
Performance Standard ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Standard Rate ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Eu

Abstract We argue that the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has evolved into a hybrid of two design variants, allowance trading (cap-and-trade) and credit trading (performance standard rate trading), with an added feature of industry support to minimize carbon leakage. In particular the current rules tying free allowances to production capacity expansion, plant closure and capacity use have transformed the efficient cap-and-trade program that stood at the origins of the EU ETS into a system that even surpasses credit trading in paying hidden product subsidies to firms. This combination of rules encourages an inefficiently high level of investment in production capacity and an inefficiently high output in industries exposed to international competition. The result is a sub-optimal EU Emissions Trading ‘Hybrid’ (which we therefore label as ‘EU ETH’).

scholarly journals Impact of Eu Ets on Sustainable Development of its Participants in Latvia

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-177
Author(s):  
Ilze Prūse
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Gas Emission ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Latvia is covered by the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and therein 80 participants from Latvia have participated. The goal of the paper is to analyse the impact of the EU ETS on the sustainable development of its participants in Latvia. The concept of sustainable development is explored with respect to both macro and micro scale and in the context of sustainable development the EU ETS is described. The impact of the EU ETS on its participants in Latvia is considered by means of methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis. It has been established that in past the participants of the EU ETS from Latvia had generally beneficial positions in the EU ETS; hence although the EU ETS did not directly promote greenhouse gas emission reductions, it provided opportunities to gain additional profits and many of the EU ETS participants in Latvia made use of them. In addition, certain interrelationships have been identified between the data on the EU ETS participants performing EUA trading and the data on the EU ETS participants not performing EUA trading. It has been concluded that the EU ETS might have contributed towards the sustainable development of its participants in Latvia within its certain dimensions.

The EU Emissions Trading System in Crisis-Ridden Greece: Climate under Neoliberalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 048661342091054
Author(s):  
Andriana Vlachou ◽  
Georgios Pantelias
Keyword(s):  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Distributional Effects ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Emissions Trading System ◽  
The Eu

Neoliberal capitalism has extended the use of markets to address climate and energy issues. Carbon trading characteristically exemplifies the neoliberalization of climate policy. This paper discusses the workings of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in the European Union (EU) with a focus on its application in crisis-ridden Greece. Beyond environmental effectiveness and distributional effects, the paper explores the interactions of the EU ETS with crisis, austerity programs, energy poverty, and uneven development. Despite adjustments and changes, the EU ETS continues to indicate limited environmental effectiveness and unjust distributional effects. Moreover, by forging a centralized neoliberal transition to a low-carbon economy without consideration of the issues faced by unevenly developed and crisis-stricken EU members such as Greece, the EU ETS leads to additional disturbances and problems for the Greek economy as a whole, its pauperized working people, and its energy and climate options to reduce emissions on its own potential, needs, and priorities.

scholarly journals A European Emissions Trading System Powered by Distributed Ledger Technology: An Evaluation Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2106
Author(s):  
Rahel Mandaroux ◽  
Chuanwen Dong ◽  
Guodong Li
Keyword(s):  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Trading Systems ◽  
Distributed Ledger ◽  
Distributed Ledger Technology ◽  
Emissions Trading System ◽  
The Eu

The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a major pillar of the European energy policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the reportedly pervasive frauds in this market are constraining the beneficial role of the EU ETS. In this conceptual paper, we propose to digitalize the EU ETS by distributed ledger technology (DLT), enabling the verification of authenticity and provenance, proof of ownership, and lifecycle traceability of carbon certificates and assets. Our platform allows verifiable credentials to validate emission allowances, real-time tracking of trading participants’ emissions, and the audit trail reporting of the decentralized trading records. Furthermore, we complement the DLT application concept with a structured interdisciplinary evaluation framework. Our framework and analysis aim to stimulate further interdisciplinary research in this area to support regulators, such as the European Commission, in designing effective digital emissions trading systems.

scholarly journals TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN EUROPEAN UNION (EU-28): A PERSPECTIVE ON ROMANIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-58
Author(s):  
Mihaela Iordache ◽  
◽  
Ramona Ionela Zgavarogea ◽  
Andreea Maria Iordache ◽  
Marius Constantinescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Strong Response ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Change Mitigation

The European mitigation strategy for combatting climate change requires up-to-date knowledge about the environmental effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the national scale. As a strong response to the consequences of climate change, the European Union has imposed on the member states an obligation to achieve the goals set out in the climate and energy package, which were aimed at reducing emissions. Therefore, underlying the trends of GHG emissions is essential when establishing climate change mitigation measures. This study identify the structure and dynamics of the GHG emissions of the six sectors of the European economies, over 27 years, and reveal the significance, direction, rate, and drivers of the observed trends using the method of modifying the absolute mean. The results indicate a decrease in the GHG emissions in the EU-28 by an average of 1% annually, which can be explained by a mixt factors, such as resize of the industry, improved energy efficiency, the growing share of renewables and less use of carbon fuels. Moreover, through the environmental policies adopted in the last decade, was observed that the GHG emissions level in 2017 had declined by approximately 25% in comparison with the reference (1990) and by approximately 17% by 2005. From the 28 EU countries (EU-28), Romania produced 4.2% of the total EU-28 GHG emissions in 1999, which decreased to 2.7% in 2005 and reaching 2.3% in 2017. Romania contributed to 14% of the average annual decrease in emissions. This evidence highlights the additional support for further reduction beyond that required for climate change mitigation.

Up in the Air: Aviation, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Question of Jurisdiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 475-506
Author(s):  
Christina Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
European Union ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Eu Ets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Emissions Trading Scheme ◽  
Trading Scheme ◽  
Eu Emissions Trading Scheme ◽  
The Eu

AbstractFrom 1 January 2012, all flights departing from or arriving at the European Union are covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Amendments were made to Directive 2003/87/EC by Directive 2008/101/EC with the objective of reducing climate change impacts attributable to aviation, but also in order to avoid distortions of competition. The scheme now includes all airlines, including those from third countries, and accounts for emissions that occur partly outside the airspace of EU Member States. A large number of third countries claim that the extension of the Emissions Trading Scheme to legs of flights outside EU territory violates the principle of state sovereignty and deny the jurisdiction of the EU to regulate emissions that occur beyond its borders. So far, the validity of the EU regulation has been challenged by a claim brought by US and Canadian air carriers. They contended that, in adopting the Directive, the EU infringed principles of customary international law—in particular the principle of state sovereignty and the prohibition of extraterritorial application—as well as various international agreements. On 21 December 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the inclusion of emissions from aviation in the EU ETS is valid. In response, Chinese and Indian carriers threatened not to pay the charge, while US airlines pledged to consider other options. This chapter analyses the judgment of the Court and the opinion of Advocate General Kokott in this case. Particular attention is given to the question of extraterritorial jurisdiction and the understanding of state sovereignty in the context of global climate change mitigation. The chapter argues that the Court missed an opportunity to contribute to the clarification of the law on jurisdiction and to the development of climate law.

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