"Fiddling with phase three is going to take more time than
we have got," Hone said. Instead of tightening the 2020 target,
lawmakers could set a reserve price for allowances in the ***fourth phase***, below which the bloc would not sell. That reserve price
would "cascade back into phase three," keeping the market
working well, he said.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Shell Adviser Says EU Should Consider Carbon Rules Through 2030
2010-10-19 11:51:45.713 GMT
By Mathew Carr and Ewa Krukowska
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- A Royal Dutch Shell Plc climate
adviser said European Union lawmakers should move now to extend
carbon-market rules through 2030 rather than tighten emission
targets for 2020.
"A high price today doesn't necessarily help" investors
make long-term decisions, David Hone, climate-change adviser for
Shell, Europe's biggest oil company, said today in an interview
at a Platts emissions conference in Brussels.
Carbon capture and storage plants, for example, take about
a decade to implement, he said. Carbon-capture technology
gathers carbon dioxide during power generation and pipes it into
underground storage rather than venting it into the air.
The EU is setting rules this year for the third phase of
its program, which runs from 2013 through 2020. It has discussed
tightening its target to cut emissions 30 percent by 2020. The
current target is a 20-percent reduction from 1990 levels.
"Fiddling with phase three is going to take more time than
we have got," Hone said. Instead of tightening the 2020 target,
lawmakers could set a reserve price for allowances in the fourth
phase, below which the bloc would not sell. That reserve price
would "cascade back into phase three," keeping the market
working well, he said.
"By defining phase four, you can send that signal now,"
Hone said. Phase-four rules could be set by 2012, he said.
Jos Delbeke, director general for climate at the European
Commission, declined to say when plans for phase four will be
set. "We are not yet toying with any blueprints for phase
four," he told the conference.
Governments around the world are seeking to cut greenhouse
gases as the global population rises and economies in China and
India grow. Scientists link man-made emissions to climate
change, which may cause stronger storms, drought and food
shortages.
For Related News and Information:
EU emissions-trading stories TNI ENVMARKET EU <GO>
Today's top environment news GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Jonas Bergman.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
