"If the EU emissions trading system wants some
credibility, they need to beef up their infrastructure," said
Chris Allison, an operations manager at CF Partners (U.K.) LLP,
the London environmental adviser. "There also needs to be more
communication and openness from the registries as to when there
are problems and what they are doing to solve the problems."
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CO2 Registries Close as Czech Trader Reports $9.3 Million Theft
2011-01-19 15:10:26.741 GMT
By Mathew Carr and Ladka Bauerova
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Emission registries closed today as
Blackstone Global Ventures, a Czech carbon trader, reported
about 6.9 million euros ($9.3 million) of European Union
allowances missing after a hacking attack.
"At 11 a.m. yesterday, Blackstone Global Ventures lost
470,000 metric tons of EU allowances," Daniel Butler, the
company's broker at Wallich & Matthes BV in Prague, said today
by e-mail. "They were transferred to Estonia."
Registries in the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia were
closed today and spot trading volumes fell on the BlueNext
exchange in Paris to 25,000 tons from 217,000 tons yesterday.
Today's incident follows a report in November 2010 of improper
access to an account in Romania's carbon registry, prompting a
statement of regret from EU regulator Jos Delbeke. There was a
similar theft reported last January in Germany.
The closure of the Czech registry operated by OTE AS
prevented the transfer of allowances, which are traded
electronically under distinct serial numbers. Blackstone Global,
which isn't affiliated with the New York-based asset manager,
wants to alert traders of suspicious spot transactions that may
follow, Butler said. At today's benchmark price of 14.67 euros a
ton, the allowances are worth 6.9 million euros. The EU carbon
market, the world's largest, had trading volume of 80 billion
euros last year, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
"If the EU emissions trading system wants some
credibility, they need to beef up their infrastructure," said
Chris Allison, an operations manager at CF Partners (U.K.) LLP,
the London environmental adviser. "There also needs to be more
communication and openness from the registries as to when there
are problems and what they are doing to solve the problems."
Security Measures
Regulators are in touch with national authorities, said
Maria Kokkonen, climate spokeswoman at the European Commission
in Brussels. "We asked member states in April to increase
security measures, so it is their area of responsibility."
There is no indication that the EU carbon market has
insufficient security, Delbeke, director general of the EU
climate unit, said in a Dec. 3 statement.
OTE was contacted yesterday by a client that noticed an
unauthorized trade of carbon permits on his account, said
Miroslav Rehor, a company representative. OTE then closed the
Czech registry and started investigating trades, he said today
by phone. He didn't say when the registry will reopen.
The BlueNext exchange said it "desynchronized" trading.
Meaning transaction can take place while payments and deliveries
are blocked, Keiron Allen, a BlueNext spokesman, said today by
e-mail.
The Romanian unit of Jonas, Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd.,
the world's second-biggest cement maker, said Nov. 30 that about
15 million euros worth of the allowances, known as EUAs, were
stolen from its account. Holcim asked the EU, which oversees
national registries of the electronic permits, to help track
them down.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ECREDITS <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
Sustainability, environmental indexes SEI <GO>
--With assistance from Ewa Krukowska in Brussels and Catherine
Airlie in London. Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley. Top
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net;
Ladka Bauerova in Paris at +420-2-2442-2108 or
lbauerova@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
