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EU carbon permit prices crash after Russian invasion of Ukraine

03/03/2022

François-Xavier Branthôme
Poland,
WPTC
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Slump effectively lowers cost of emitting carbon for the most polluting companies
The price of carbon permits in Europe has crashed dramatically following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, lowering the cost of emitting carbon for the EU’s most polluting companies.

Permit prices, which are part of the EU’s emissions trading scheme, were launched in 2005, and reached a high of Euro 97 in early February, but have now slumped below Euro 70 (Euro 77.6). Prices were on course to drop to almost Euro 60 on Wednesday (March 02, 2022) afternoon, representing the biggest fall since 2014.

The carbon price is the EU’s flagship financial mechanism for curbing emissions, with companies, such as airlines, forced to buy the permits when they pollute.

But investors appear to be pulling out of the market, with some experts saying they have been “spooked” by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The carbon price usually moves with energy prices but it has decoupled because of war.
After the Cop26 climate summit last year, the EU carbon price surged to record levels and continued to do so in January as inflation and energy prices rose.

The carbon price is an important EU policy aimed at curbing emissions across Europe’s entire energy and industrial sector. In theory, the more companies pay, the more effort they will put into cutting emissions. Other countries and trading blocs have carbon markets but set their own rules. For example, China has the largest but has lower prices and more relaxed rules.

Sources: theguardian.com, ember-climate.org