Preliminary data in the European Union Transaction Log database examined by analysts on Monday showed that emissions regulated under the European Union’s carbon market from power and industrial sectors fell by 1.2-1.6% last year.
Designed to help reduce global warming by charging for the right to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the Emissions Trading System (ETS) regulates about 45% of the EU’s output of greenhouse gases.
According to analysts at Refinitiv and ICIS, stationary emissions covered by the scheme, including power plants and factories, totalled 1.316-1.320 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2022, down 1.2-1.6% from the previous year while a decline in industrial emissions offset increase in power sector emissions.
Russia’s incursion of Ukraine resulted in many EU countries burning more coal for power generation as Russian gas supplies to Europe dwindled. There were also problems with French nuclear power output, requiring more power generation from fossil fuels to fill the gap.
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However, high gas prices led many industrial companies to curb production.
The scheme also covered emissions from the aviation sector, which rose 77-84% last year from 2021 levels as the industry started to recover from travel restrictions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the analysts said.
Due to the rise in aviation emissions, total carbon dioxide emissions covered by the ETS inched up last year – by 0.2% from 2021 levels to 1.366 billion tonnes – according to Refinitiv gas analyst Yan Qin.
Some 93% of all installations covered by the ETS have reported their emissions so the data is incomplete.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
