The European Commission has approved the removal of 900 million tons of carbon permits from the market with 400 million tons in 2013, 300 million in 2014 and 200 million in 2015 from this year in an effort to increase prices. The permits would then be returned to auction in two stages of 300 million in 2019 and 600 million in 2020.
Carbon prices have fallen for 14 straight months and dealers have returned to the market in force over the past two months, buying up what they can in anticipation of this ruling. ‘
The fact of the matter is that the EU ETS remains in full force for EU based airlines and although the EC actions to stablise carbon prices will not make a huge difference in the short term, airlines should be wary of what base price the EC is trying to achieve and lobbying for this information should allow for better forward planning.
The bottom line remains in the realms of the shipping industry; so long as shipping remains muted carbon credits will remain cheap.