Latest news and publications
How not to mess with the ETS
Carbon Market Watch’s 10-point plan to keep the EU Emissions Trading System on track to serve the climate and society.
Despite the political noise, support for the EU ETS is overwhelming
CMW’s Jeanne Marullaz reports that there are clear signs of growing support for the EU Emissions Trading System as a driving force of both climate action and European competitiveness – from civil society to governments and industries
EU’s 2040 target lets big polluters off the hook
Although the European Union has the means and capacity to wave goodbye to fossil fuels by 2040, EU environment ministers have backed an unambitious climate target for that year that unfairly shifts some of the burden for domestic climate action to the Global South and future generations.
What does proposed EU 2040 target mean for climate action?
The European Commission’s unambitious proposed climate target for 2040 risks becoming riddled with loopholes and delaying urgent climate action. This in-depth analysis explains how and why.
Competitive, but at what cost?
There is an increasing need for both public and private expenditure, and an availability of growing ETS revenues. Those delivering the most climate action must be rewarded.
Heavy industry must not swallow up Flemish Climate Fund
Heavily polluting industries are on course to receive the lion’s share of Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) revenue earmarked for Flanders between now and 2030, depriving the government of desperately needed resources to finance decarbonisation and a just transition. The Flemish government must change course
CMW feedback on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) – carbon price paid in a third country
Carbon Market Watch is concerned with the willingness of the European Commission to allow for domestic and international credits to be accounted as carbon price
Implementing act updating benchmark values for free allocation of emission allowances – CMW feedback
The regular update of the benchmark values for free allowances under the EU ETS is a necessary step to ensure that the last years of
Shooting blanks: Why ‘increasing the firepower’ of the Market Stability Reserve misses the target
Introduced in 2018, the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) functions as the oversupply control mechanism of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Created to address structural oversupply on the market, every year it extracts a share of surplus emissions allowances. The MSR came to the rescue of the misfiringETS by ending a decade of low market confidence and rock bottom prices. In practice it has proven effective, syphoning oversupply out of the system and invalidating (or deleting) over 3.4 billion EU Allowances (EUAs).
