Poland to challenge the ETS carbon market deal

Poland will challenge the legality of the Emission Trading System (ETS) draft agreed by most European Union governments, saying the deal is not-binding because it did not have the full backing of the bloc's 28 nations, Poland's environment ministry said. If the legislation is adopted it might even take the case to the European Court of Justice. During the discussions on the draft, nine countries, including Poland opposed the deal. Warsaw is arguing that EU treaties say rules on a country's choice between different energy sources can only be adopted with the unanimous consent of the bloc's 28 nations, and with nine countries opposing it, it should be brought to a vote in the European Parliament. “To be clear, the (European) Council has not adopted a formal act on the ETS review. This means that the Council did not proceed to a formal vote. Therefore, there is no basis for claiming that the wrong voting rules were used,” a spokesman for the Maltese presidency said and now the negotiations with the Parliament will begin. The cap-and-trade permit system aims to decrease limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allows companies to trade emissions allowances. The approved system calls for 2.2 percent increase each year. The proposed reforms would seek to reduce the long-standing over-supply of carbon credits in the market by cancelling 800 million allowances and introducing a new mechanism to cancel a further 200 million allowances if a set threshold is reached. A minimum of 16 member states is required to back the compromise deal, representing at least 65 percent of the total EU population.