BAH, HUMBUG! END €TS FREEBIES. MAKE POLLUTERS PAY FOR A FAIR AND CLEAN TRANSFORMATION

Final deal on EU carbon market (ETS) gives heavy industry a free pass at the expense of households and taxpayers

The long process that was meant to transform the EU’s Emissions Trading System into an effective tool for climate action has culminated in a final deal that will not reduce Europe’s industrial carbon footprint rapidly enough to tackle the climate crisis. The reformed EU ETS lavishes freebies on polluting industries and leaves households and taxpayers with the bill.

December editorial: Greenwashing fossil fuels in Sharm el-Sheikh and Brussels

At a time when we need to shift our collective climate action up a gear, the influence of the fossil fuels lobby is succeeding in slowing down ambition both at COP27 and in the EU. COP27 produced one significant breakthrough – the agreement on a fund to compensate vulnerable and poorer countries for the loss …

Abandoned factory in Liege, Belgium.

October newsletter editorial: Decarbonisation is not deindustrialisation

At Carbon Market Watch, we seek to decarbonise society, not to deindustrialise it, out of a conviction that our future prosperity depends on our ability to live within the planet’s limits, for the good of society, for the good of nature and, ultimately, for the long-term good of businesses themselves. We went on a tour …

Clearing the fog around heavy industry’s carbon market claims

Ahead of the next trilogue between the EU institutions on the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), scheduled to kick off next week, CMW’s Agnese Ruggiero and WWF’s Camille Maury tackle the misconceptions and bust the myths about the EU’s carbon market’s revision. The current energy crunch and the burning hot summer Europe experienced this year  …

Open safety deposit boxes

Plundering the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating

Raiding the reserve that underpins the EU’s Emissions Trading System to reduce the European Union’s dependence on Russian gas is short-sighted and destructive, especially as far better solutions exist. The Market Stability Reserve (MSR) is an important element of the EU Emissions Trading System. It has proven effective in supporting the carbon price, and helped …

Trilogue triangulation: Mapping the positions of the EU institutions on carbon market reform

As the EU institutions enter into a three-way trilogue on the reform of the Emissions Trading System, we present you with this handy comparative analysis of the options on the table and Carbon Market Watch’s recommendations. Almost a year after the publication of the European Commission’s proposal for the revision of the EU’s Emissions Trading …

September newsletter editorial: Tackling the climate crisis and the energy crunch

As the signs of climate breakdown become unmissable, we must not sacrifice our carbon ambitions in favour of damaging short-term fixes. We must tackle the energy crunch in a way that is compatible with our climate goals. During the summer break, many of us observed signs of climate breakdown. I cycled about 500 km, many …