The European Parliament has not been able to agree on a proposed reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). A majority of MPs rejected plans to extend the system to buildings and transport on Wednesday. The bill has been referred back to the Environment Committee to find a new compromise acceptable to a majority.
“I think that’s a shame,” said MP Peter Liese (CDU), who is responsible for negotiating the dossier in the EU Parliament. “As on many other occasions in this report, the extreme right, the Social Democrats and the Greens voted together.” For the Greens and Social Democrats, the proposal was partly not ambitious enough.
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In emissions trading, for example, parts of industry or electricity producers have to pay for the emission of climate-damaging gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). Among other things, the plan was to expand the system to other sectors – with exceptions for private households – and to reduce the emissions covered by the ETS more quickly.
Other important votes on the EU climate package were also postponed after the failure of the ETS reform. The dossiers on the planned EU border adjustment mechanism for CO2 and the climate social fund are also sent back to the environmental committee.
