Pillaging the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating

The author contends that using the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) as a funding source for REPowerEU is destructive, as it would increase pollution limits, depress carbon prices, and reduce industrial incentives to decarbonize. The text suggests alternative funding methods, such as auctioning free pollution permits, and calls for the exclusion of fossil fuel infrastructure investments from the REPowerEU plan.

• The European Commission proposes to raise €20 billion for the REPowerEU plan by selling approximately 250 million allowances from the Market Stability Reserve (MSR).
• Selling MSR allowances would increase the permitted pollution under the EU ETS by 116 to 144 million tonnes of CO2e by 2030 and likely depress carbon prices, which would reduce the incentive for industry to decarbonize.
• The REPowerEU plan includes an investment of approximately €11.5 billion in oil and fossil gas infrastructure, which the author argues will increase fossil fuel dependence and create stranded assets.
• The author recommends that the EU finance REPowerEU by auctioning free pollution permits given to industry, using allowances earmarked for auctioning, or utilizing the Innovation Fund, rather than raiding the MSR.

APA

Stoefs, W. (2022). Pillaging the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2022/09/27/pillaging-the-eus-carbon-market-to-fight-the-energy-crunch-is-self-defeating/

Chicago

Stoefs, Wijnand. Pillaging the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating. Carbon Market Watch, 2022. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2022/09/27/pillaging-the-eus-carbon-market-to-fight-the-energy-crunch-is-self-defeating/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Stoefs |first1=Wijnand |title=Pillaging the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=27 September 2022 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2022/09/27/pillaging-the-eus-carbon-market-to-fight-the-energy-crunch-is-self-defeating/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{stoefs2022pillaging, author = {Stoefs, Wijnand}, title = {{Pillaging the EU’s carbon market to fight the energy crunch is self-defeating}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2022/09/27/pillaging-the-eus-carbon-market-to-fight-the-energy-crunch-is-self-defeating/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }