CARBON TRADING SCHEME NEEDS TO BE TOUGHER - HUHNE

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 13th Jun 2007

Commenting on the WWF report on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said:

"This report rightly highlights the concern that EU businesses could avoid cutting their own emissions by subsidising carbon cuts in developing countries. It comes on top of concerns that many developing world schemes are not genuinely additional cuts in carbon but are merely cosmetic.

"The EU cannot afford another flop like the first phase of the scheme. The review of the ETS needs to toughen up national allocations of permits, auction a higher proportion of them and ensure that carbon cuts in developing countries are real projects.

"The key test of the scheme is the price at which businesses will have to buy permits to pollute. The best estimates suggest that we need a carbon price of about €40 per tonne, but permits for 2008 are currently trading at only €23.

"In the current shambolic phase, the price per tonne today is a derisory 24 cents. The EU's environment ministers must get real."