BRITISH GAS CHIEF SAYS EU MUST MAKE POLLUTERS PAY
01.18.08 - Leído 57 veces. Enviar esta notaPete Harrison
Lawmakers must act now to end a scheme that has handed billions of euros in windfall profits to Europe’s biggest polluters, the chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica said
LONDON, UK; January 18, 2008.- Sam Laidlaw also said homeowners should expect a slight long-term rise in energy bills as power firms invest in the clean technologies needed to reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change.
The European Commission will next week outline changes from 2013 to the third phase of its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which seeks to make companies pay for the carbon they produce.
The scheme has been widely criticised for handing out too many free carbon permits to companies, which some of the bigger polluters with coal plants have sold at a profit.
“Those with the highest CO2 emissions are actually being rewarded,” said Laidlaw.
Centrica gets most of its electricity by burning gas and is investing heavily in wind farms. Like most of the cleaner power companies it wants lawmakers to end the free handouts and auction them all from 2013.
Profits from auctioning should be used to support research into the cleanest technologies, Laidlaw added.
Britain’s energy regulator said on Wednesday the industry was set to receive a windfall
worth 9 billion pounds (US$17.7 billion) between now and 2013, and the government should look at taking that profit to help people who struggle with rising energy bills.
Laidlaw also called for caps on the carbon permits to be steadily reduced, a move that would increase their price, making it more expensive for companies to pollute and easier to invest in clean energy.
“We’re probably talking a minimum cut of 20 percent (by 2020)… possibly 30 percent if there is international agreement around that.”
Carbon permits have been trading at around 22-23 euros per tonne, but energy companies say they need a much higher price in the future to justify building new, cleaner sources of power such as wind farms and new high-tech coal plants.
Laidlaw said the carbon price would have to rise to above 30 euros per tonne to achieve Europe’s ambitious goals for curbing climate change.
“For investment in clean coal it needs to be in the 40 euros a tonne range,” he added. “By no means is that impossible by phase three… so long as we have tight caps and full auctioning.”
Laidlaw said homeowners’ energy bills would rise slightly if carbon prices went up. “But if we’re going to get energy from renewables or other low carbon sources, then unfortunately it’s more expensive.”
(Reuters)
Enlaces Relacionados
