News
Publish date: April 20, 2012
News
EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard stated on April 19 that she has “already asked DG Climate Action to prepare the first annual report on the ETS. […] This offers an opportunity to include a review of the auction time profile.” meaning a so-called “set-aside” of EUAs could be decided in 2012.
The economic recession has reduced demand for EUAs, whose price has come down from close to €30 in mid-2008, to the current level of €6.14. A Commission report on the ETS was initially due next year, but is now brought forward.
This report is expected to give recommendations on measures that could raise the price of EUAs. Options include a reserve auction price or withholding EUAs from the market (a set aside).
A set-aside could be adopted through a so-called EU comitology process by the end of the year.
The question remaining is what will happen with the EUAs set aside. That is why the issue of longer term action to protect the carbon price was also discussed by the ministers on April 19 in Denmark.
A majority recognised that the best way to achieve this is to adopt a binding EU greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030, according to news service ENDS.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.