Berlin, Apr 22 (EFE).- The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, advocated this Wednesday to adjust the current ETS emissions trading system to preserve the competitiveness of the industry, in a context of geopolitical and geoeconomic volatility.
“For 20 years we have had a successful system at European level in the form of the ETS1 emissions trading system. It is successful precisely because it is a market-based system,” he said during his speech at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue taking place this week in Berlin.
He added that it is a “technologically neutral” tool, that is, not linked to a specific technology, which allows the industry to advance the transition towards climate neutrality.
“It allows us to implement climate action and protect the competitiveness of our companies. That is why at the European level I advocate maintaining this system and modernizing it for the future, making adjustments during the next reviews, with a clear focus on preserving competitiveness,” said Merz.
The chancellor highlighted that it is necessary to take into account the future of the high energy consumption industry.
The EC proposed this month a first adjustment to the ETS system, the cornerstone of the EU’s climate policy that since 2005 requires more than 10,000 industrial plants in the community market to buy rights for each ton of CO2 they release.
The adjustment presented affects the Market Stability Reserve, a mechanism that adjusts the amount of rights that go up for auction based on the total in circulation, so that if this surplus exceeds certain thresholds, rights are withdrawn from the market and if it falls too low, they are released.
A broader redesign of the ETS system will also be presented next July to align it with the new objective of reducing CO2 by 90% by 2040.
