At the same time the Syrian regime of Bashir Al-Assad began the brutal repression that would quickly spin the country into civil war—and culminate with the use of chemical weapons against its own citizens-- Syrian officials were officially registering a deal with the United Nations agency sponsoring the world's largest carbon-trading scheme for an industrial complex known for years as a “dual-use” facility in the government's production of the same weapons of mass destruction.
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Brussels. The European Commission proposed Monday
cutting the pollution credits auctioned to firms in 2013-2015 in order
to raise the price of carbon and make investment in clean technology
worthwhile, AFP informs.
The proposal, published on the Commission's website, has been submitted
to EU member states, according to the Commission's climate commissioner
Connie Hedegaard.
The EU's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a so-called cap-and-trade
system that seeks to fight climate change by gradually tightening the
amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by companies.
Companies receive annual carbon emissions targets. They are allotted
some carbon emission credits but then must purchase allowances that have
been auctioned or earned by other companies.
However the price of carbon allowances under the EU's ETS has fallen so
low that companies do not have a major incentive to invest in reducing
their emissions.
Hedegaard has proposed cutting by 900 million tonnes the amount of
carbon credits auctioned to firms in 2013-2015, with the allowances
increased in 2018-2019.
The EU plans to auction credits worth some 8,500 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2013-2019.
Hedegaard also considered a cut of 400 million tonnes and 1,400 million tonnes.
The European Parliament had backed a cut of 1,400 million tonnes, which
would cause the price of a tonne of carbon emissions to double from the
current price of seven euros, according to estimates.
Experts believe that the price should be between 24 and 30 euros in order to make investment in clean technologies worthwhile.
