在上個月一次表決中，歐洲議會環境委員會通過一項碳交易改革草案。草案內容包括調降碳排放上限、導入剩餘碳權調降機制，以提高碳價、減少排放總額。
調降碳交易上限 總額幾近砍半
碳排放交易系統（Emissions Trading System，ETS）是歐盟第一個，目前為止也是最大的溫室氣體排放配額交易系統，共有31個國家、超過11,000座發電廠、工廠和航空公司參與。
ETS是歐盟對抗氣候變遷的基礎，也是減少工業碳排放的主要工具，且成本效益高。
歐盟ETS致力於碳排放上限和交易法則的制定。碳排放上限是系統內工廠、電廠和其他設施所能排放的溫室氣體總和上限。在上限內，各公司能彼此買賣碳排放配額。
而根據此草案，碳排放上限會被逐步調降，以減少排放總額。歐盟ETS 2020年的碳排放上限將比2005年低21%，2030年將低43%。
回收剩餘碳價 變身能源轉型基金
草案還規定，當剩餘碳權超過一定水準，系統自動減少部分的碳權配額，存入「市場穩定儲備機制」（market stability reserve，MSR），有需求時再回到市場上。
歐洲議會議員建議，應提早導入市場穩定儲備機制，以加速減少剩餘碳權。儲備機制將於2018年建立，並於同年12月31日生效，早於歐洲執委會先前所提的2021年。
去年議員也曾提出「延後配額拍賣」（back-loading）的做法，避免配額自動回到市場；從2014至2016年減少9億的碳權，暫時放入儲備機制中，2019年後再回到市場上，暫時因應碳價低迷的問題。
也有議員提議，可將拍賣3億碳權配額產生的利潤，投入特殊的「能源創新基金」，幫助產業往低碳轉型。
歐洲議會議員Ivo Belet指出，「市場穩定儲備機制能確保碳價刺激投資，提高能源效率。」
強推再生能源 歐盟欲再擴張占比
雖然煤、石油、天然氣和其他化石燃料仍佔歐盟能源消耗的3/4，歐洲環境總署（European Environment Agency，EEA）近期的報告「再生能源在歐洲─近期成長與連鎖效應」指出，再生能源已經降低了歐洲的二氧化碳排放。
據EEA估計，2013年全歐盟28個會員國的再生能源消耗量都增加了。全歐盟來說，2013年再生能源的占比增加到15%，超前了再生能源指令12%的目標。
2005年至2012年間部署的再生能源，已讓歐洲的化石燃料消耗總量減少7%，也減少了溫室氣體排放量。被取代最多化石燃料是煤，比其原本的使用量減少13%；歐洲天然氣儲藏量日益減少的同時，使用量也減少了7%。
歐盟預計在2020年將再生能源市佔率提高至20%，並在2030年提高至27%。
A draft law to reform the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, by cutting the surplus of carbon credits available for trading so as to support the price, has won approval from the European Parliment’s Environment Committee.
The Emissions Trading System is a cornerstone of EU policy to combat climate change and its key tool for cost-effectively reducing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, CO2, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.
The first, and still the largest, international system for trading greenhouse gas emission allowances, the ETS covers more than 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 31 countries, as well as airlines.
The EU ETS works on the cap and trade principle. A cap, or limit, is set on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by the factories, power plants and other installations in the system. Within the cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances which they can trade with one another.
The cap is reduced over time so that total emissions fall. In 2020, emissions from sectors covered by the EU ETS will be 21 percent lower than in 2005. By 2030, the European Commission proposes, they would be 43 percent lower.
In a vote Tuesday, MEPs advocated introducing the surplus credits reduction mechanism early, by the end of 2018.
The proposed law would create a system that automatically takes a portion of ETS allowances off the market and into a Market Stability Reserve if the surplus exceeds a certain threshold. When there is demand for them, allowances could be returned to the market.
MEPs proposed introducing the Market Stability Reserve early, to reduce the surplus of carbon credits faster.
The reserve would be established in 2018 and take effect by December 31 of that year, instead of in 2021 as proposed by the European Commission.
The MEPs also proposed preventing the automatic return to the market of a portion of allowances “back loaded” last year in a separate vote.
As a temporary fix to support the carbon price, the 900 million credits “back-loaded” from 2014-2016, should not be returned to the market from 2019, as initially foreseen, but placed in the reserve instead, say MEPs.
Belet said, “The Market Stability Reserve will ensure that CO2 prices spur investments in greater energy efficiency.”
MEPs propose to invest the profits generated by the auctioning of 300 million allowances in a special “Energy Innovation Fund” designed to help industry’s transition to low-carbon technologies.
While coal, oil, gas and other fossil fuels still make up around three quarters of the EU’s energy consumption, a new report from the European Environment Agency shows that renewable energy is driving down Europe’s CO2 emissions.
The deployment of renewable energy from 2005 through 2012 has shaved seven percent off the total of Europe’s consumption of fossil fuels and also off greenhouse gas emissions , the agency reports in a document entitled, “Renewable energy in Europe – approximated recent growth and knock-on effects.”
Final consumption of renewable energy increased in all 28 Member States in 2013, according to EEA estimates.
The most substituted fuel was coal, where consumption would have been 13 percent higher, while natural gas use would have been seven percent higher, at a time when European gas reserves are dwindling.
At EU level, the share of renewables increased to almost 15 percent by 2013, so the EU was ahead of its 12 percent target set by the Renewable Energy Directive.
By 2020, the EU aims to generate at least 20 percent of its energy using renewable sources, rising to 27 percent by 2030.
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