How the taxpayer can reclaim €7 billion from the EU’s Emissions Trading System

Wolf Richter   www.testosteronepit.com   www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter The solar-panel industry, once fattened by taxpayer subsidies and false hopes, has been in a death spiral around the world. In the US, a slew of photovoltaic standouts like Solyndra went under, taking billions of subsidies and investor capital with them. In Germany, it has been just as brutal. Even large companies are licking their wounds.

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Euro-area finance chiefs, pressuring Cyprus to shrink its banking system as the condition for a bailout, are reviving demands they jettisoned last week as too extreme, four European officials said. Finance ministers for the 17 euro countries are considering a plan to shutter the two biggest banks in Cyprus and freeze the assets of uninsured depositors, said the four officials, who asked not to be named because the talks are ongoing. The ministers are holding a teleconference tonight.fla

Cameron Hepburn, 30 October 2012The EU’s Emissions Trading System includes all flights to, from and within Europe as eligible for regulation – something that has faced strong opposition from the US and China. With Airbus’s orders from China falling, the pressure has grown from within Europe. This column argues that for reasons of economic principle, legality and practicality, the EU should stand its ground.Full Article: Should the EU suspend its airline emissions charge?

Chinese airlines will not pay European Union carbon emissions charges that came into force on January 1, a national aviation industry group said Thursday.The EU launched the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2005 in a bid to reduce carbon emissions of power stations and industrial plants, and extended the scheme to airlines from Sunday.The move means airlines have to buy pollution permits to fly in Europe under a cap-and-trade scheme that has angered the US and Chinese governments and airlines worldwide.

The European Commission will next week urge EU nations to hike their targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from 20 to 30 percent, saying the costs and risks to industry are less than previously estimated."Both the international context and the economic analysis suggest that the EU is right to continue preparing for a move to a 30 percent target," the commission argues in a paper to be given to the 27 European Union member states on May 26.