
Breadcrumbs
Carbon Fat Cats 2011
A look at the companies profiting from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
About
Thanks to overly optimistic forecasts of growth and fierce lobbying by heavy industry the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has failed to incentivise cost effective reductions in emissions and instead enabled some companies to profit from the scheme. This report looks at those companies who have made the most substantial gains: our Carbon Fat Cats.
The fact that the ETS has provided substantial windfalls to some participants and a money making opportunity for many others has not prevented industry from attacking it whenever it can and from successfully lobbying to keep it in its current state: oversupplied with allowances and exerting only the weakest pressure on participants to invest in a low carbon future.
Executive summary
The same industries enjoying large allowances are those lobbying to hold the system back
Europe must transform its energy systems to become more efficient, competitive, less polluting and less reliant on imported fossil fuels
In order to facilitate more accurate research more data should be made publically available. In particular participating installations should be required to fill out all company and parent company fields in the Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) as well as inducted percentage ownership between companies if necessary. Waste gas transfer data should also be made publically available to establish just how much of the iron and steel sectors’ colossal surplus is actually being given away to neighbouring installations.