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EU lawmakers back plan to withhold carbon permits
EU lawmakers back plan to withhold carbon permitsProposal will prop up record low carbon prices by withholding 1.4bn permits from the third phase of the emissions trading scheme
European Union lawmakers backed a proposal on Tuesday to allow the European commission to prop up record low carbon prices by withholding 1.4bn permits from the third phase of the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS), sending prices 20% higher.
The majority of the members of the European parliament's cross-party environment committee backed changes to an energy efficiency bill that could give the commission the power to intervene in the carbon market it set up, after it misjudged the amount of permits EU industry needed to cover their emissions.
The EU ETS caps the emissions of some 11,000 factories and power plants in the bloc, forcing them to buy carbon permits to cover their emissions output.
The commission, which oversees the scheme, overestimated the amount of permits the EU's heavy emitters would need to cover their emissions in the period 2008-12, resulting in over-supply.
The supply glut...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/20/eu-plan-withhold-carbon-permits
