https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/world/uk-back-eu-climate-change-measures/

 

Britain is to join France and Sweden in backing new measures to increase costs for polluters under the European Union's carbon trading scheme.

 

At a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, EU environment ministers will try to balance environmental obligations with industry concerns, in a gathering likely to be overshadowed by the hostile stance of US President Donald Trump towards the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. Although Britain is due to formally trigger exit talks from the EU within weeks, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom is expected to side with seven other countries in arguing for higher carbon-permit prices for polluters. The ministers are looking at ways to tighten Europe's carbon market after 2020 as they aim to meet their emissions-cutting commitments under the Paris accord. The main issue is how to bring down the number of carbon permits, which have suppressed prices in the market, known as the Emissions Trading System (ETS). Carbon price fall The ETS, a permit system for regulating emissions under which companies have to pay to pollute, has suffered from excess supply since the financial crisis. Pricing carbon was supposed to encourage the use of alternative sources of energy, but the economic downturn and flaws in the design of the ETS triggered a price collapse. The ministers are meeting after a vote in the European Parliament last week on its own draft reform, which would double the number of permits to be taken off the market - a measure that could push the carbon price up to €25 (£21) a tonne by 2020. But EU governments are split on the issue. Britain, France and others support a proposal by MEPs to tighten the market for excess permits. But Germany, Italy, Austria and Greece say the rules could prompt big industries to relocate abroad, and argue that more permits should be handed out. Meanwhile, many of the poorer, coal-dependent EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe want more aid to adapt to climate-friendly policies. Three non-EU countries are part of the ETS - Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein - but Theresa May has not yet indicated whether the UK will stay in Europe's carbon market following Brexit. Conservative MEP Ian Duncan, who is shepherding the ETS reforms through the European Parliament, has said he doubts the UK will remain part of a system over which it will no longer hold influence. Under the Paris deal, Britain has a legally binding target to cut emissions of harmful greenhouse gases - such as those produced in fossil-fuel power plants - by 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050. But outside the ETS, it is unclear how Britain would meet its targets. What is the ETS? The EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) is market designed to prod businesses into cutting their carbon emissions. It is a cornerstone of the EU's policy to combat climate change and is its key tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions cost effectively. Launched in 2005 to help the EU meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol, the ETS covers 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 31 European countries, and accounts for around 45 per cent of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. The ETS works by putting a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide allowed by large factories and other companies. Firms that exceed their individual limit can trade unused permits from those that have taken steps to cut their emissions.