U.K. Should Remove EU CO2 Permits to Fix Overlap, Offsetter Says
The U.K. should remove European Union carbon permits from its allocation to factories and power stations to match emission cuts under its proposed Carbon Reduction Commitment program, said an offset company.
The so-called CRC program may create 90 million metric tons of reductions in the period from 2011 through 2020, according to a report by London-based Carbon Retirement Ltd. Unless the government removes them from the market, the CRC would free up permits for use by other emitters in the bloc, making the program neutral for global climate protection, it said.
“The more successful the CRC is in driving energy efficiency, the more allowances will be available to heavy industry in Europe,” it said. The group, representing companies and not-for-profits wanting to offset their carbon emissions, buys CO2 permits and takes them out of circulation.
The U.K. Department for Energy and Climate Change has sought views on the potential implications of an overlap of the proposed CRC and the EU carbon market, the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas program by traded volume. CRC is meant to encourage emission cuts among companies and government units that aren’t regulated by the EU.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net
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