Rising EU emissions allowance price fills Germany’s climate action fund
The rising price for CO2 emissions in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) has created windfall gains for Germany’s energy and climate funds, the latest monthly report by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA) reveals. According to the July 2018 report by the UBA’s emission trading office, the auctioning of 17 million allowances generated revenue of 284 million euros in that month alone, meaning that bidders paid nearly nine percent more than in the previous month and the highest monthly average price since 2011. In 2018, revenues from allowances traded at the European Energy Exchange (EEX) at a weighted average price of 12.73 euros have so far amounted to 1.5 billion euros, already more than the 1.15 billion earned in 2017. About one-third of allowances for 2018 have yet to be auctioned, the UBA says.
According to news website Welt Online, total 2018 revenue is expected to reach over 2 billion euros by year’s end and will be transferred to the country’s Energy and Climate Fund, which is used to finance measures like e-mobility support and heating system modernisation. The rising price of CO2 emissions could now fill the fund with 1 billion euros more than initially expected by Germany’s finance ministry (BMF), the article says.
Find the UBA report in English here and the Welt Online article in German here.
For background, read the article Rising CO2-price could trigger German coal phase-out in 5 years and the factsheet Understanding the European Union’s Emissions Trading System.