Isra-Mart srl : EU carbon trading fully reopened

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Isra-Mart srl news:

THREE months after the European Union shut down spot trading in emission certificates following cyber thefts in several countries, the last of the bloc's national carbon registries will reopen today.

The European Commission, the EU's executive, said yesterday that Lithuania's registry — which like the other national registries manages companies' and traders' carbon accounts — will reopen this afternoon, meaning emission certificates can again be moved between accounts in all 30 states participating the EU's cap-and-trade scheme.

However, market participants say that huge problems remain in the market, where spot volumes are down more than a third since January.

The Commission on Jan 19 suspended all spot trading in emissions certificates after thieves hacked into accounts in five national registries and stole some two million allowances valued at about euro30 million. It has been readmitting registries that have upgraded their security standards over the past months.

The cyber raids revealed massive security holes in some registries and showed how the fragmentation of the carbon market made it almost impossible to track down the stolen certificates or decide who owned them after they were found.

The closure was also an embarrassing setback for the EU, which pioneered the so-called cap-and-trade system, its main tool in the fight against climate change.

The system limits the carbon dioxide emissions of power plants and big factories in the EU by issuing permits for each ton of carbon they can emit. Companies can trade these certificates, providing an incentive to cut emissions. Over time, the number of allowances will be lowered, thus cutting overall emissions in the EU.