MEPs mull steeper annual EU ETS emissions cuts

OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2016. European Parliament could eventually back steeper annual emissions cuts than currently proposed under a post-2020 review of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS), but it would do so only by a narrow majority, Dutch Green Member of Parliament (MEP), Bas Eickhout has said.

Lead MEPs who represent their political parties in parliament's environment committee met yesterday to start talks towards a compromise on rules that will govern the functioning of the EU ETS in phase 4 (2021-30).

The Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Green Alliance support a tightening of the linear reduction factor (LRF) from 1.74pc currently to 2.4pc — instead of the 2.2pc suggested by the European Commission.

But European People's Party (EPP) support for the measure may come at a price, Eickhout said.

Among other things, the EPP is pushing for a lower share of auctioned allowances and a higher proportion of free allowances to be handed out to energy-intensive industry sectors at risk of carbon leakage.

Another amendment, tabled by the Green Alliance, is for 2018-20 emissions to be used as a baseline for setting the overall EU ETS cap rather than 2010 emissions as under the current proposal.

But other political parties have yet to come forward with a position on the proposed emissions baseline, as they are still considering its implications, Eickhout said.

Meanwhile, MEP Ian Duncan, the rapporteur responsible for steering the legislation through parliament, has only been willing to take a position that is likely to win majority support, Eickhout said.

The Green MEP expressed disappointment over the rapporteur's conservative stance and the lack of ambition reflected by his opinion on the proposal. "In the end, you can never be sure of majority support in the plenary, in the end you have to fight for something and then see how it plays out in the vote," Eickhout said.

"But yesterday, we did make some progress and I do think we will be able to strengthen his [Duncan's] proposal on a couple of points," Eickhout said. But given that this was only the first negotiating round, it is too early to call the outcome, the Dutch MEP cautioned.

The environment committee has limited time to reach a compromise position, as the plan was for it to vote on the proposal by the end of October, he said.

The industry and energy (ITRE) committee also has to agree an opinion and it is scheduled to vote on the proposal on 13 October.

The legislative proposal has to be passed by both the European Parliament and the Council of EU member states before becoming law.