WWF claim EU ETS could bring huge windfall to power companies
April 21, 2008
A new report commissioned by WWF has claimed that "polluting power companies" in five European States, including the UK, could reap enormous windfall profits, equivalent to more than twice the gross domestic product of Slovenia, during the second phase of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
The WWF commissioned Point Carbon, a provider of information and analysis on carbon markets, to carry out a study assessing the potential and scale of windfall profits to the power sector in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland.
The researchers concluded that over the second phase of the scheme, which is set to run until 2012, overall profits to the power sector in these countries could be as high as €71 billion.
Specifically, the report highlights plans for scores of new coal stations.
The WWF says that burning coal to generate electricity already accounts for about one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year within Europe ― or about 20% of all EU's greenhouse gas emissions ― and yet, the environment conservation group says, "its grip on the European power sector looks set to increase".
Furthermore, the research commissioned by the WWF indicates that the EU ETS will continue to allow this heavily polluting form of energy to gain billions of euros from a scheme originally created to reduce emissions.
Commenting on the report, Kirsty Clough, Climate Change Policy Officer at WWF-UK, said, "Handing free pollution permits to power companies is like handing them a cash bonus as, with the lack of international competition, they simply pass on the value of the permits to their customers. The report shows that in the UK, windfall profits to the power sector could be as high €15 billion by 2012."
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