BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU countries will get an estimated 59 percent increase in revenue from the sale of carbon allowances over the next three years if plans to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) are implemented, an internal commission note said.

Some countries, such as Poland, would see an initial drop in income because of its decision to hand out free permits to its power generators to shelter them from the cost of paying for their emissions.

BRUSSELS, Dec 14 (Reuters) – The European Commission is
considering whether to hand out more free pollution allowances
for the steel sector next year to counter the risk the industry
could be driven out of Europe, EU sources said.

The cost of carbon on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has
collapsed to record low levels under the burden of excess
supply. Earlier this month, it hit a new low of 5.61 euros a
tonne.

DOHA, Dec 10 (Reuters) – A more than decade-long quest for a
global plan to curb airline emissions is likely to pick up speed
this week, with a meeting set for a new high-level team of
officials, including two U.S. government advisers.

The meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 12-13 in Montreal
after a stand-off between the European Union and non-EU nations
over a law to include all airlines that use EU airports in the
EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The law has stirred threats of a
trade war.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Union’s landmark effort to charge foreign airlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the European Commission chief in October.

The U.S. aviation industry had mustered fierce political opposition, China was threatening to withhold aircraft orders from Airbus and the most influential European nations feared retaliation against their national carriers. Chinese and Indian airlines refused to submit emissions data; U.S. lawmakers were readying a law that could make it illegal to pay the tariff.

DOHA, Dec 9 (Reuters) – At the end of another
lavishly-funded U.N. conference that yielded no progress on
curbing greenhouse emissions, many of those most concerned about
climate change are close to despair.

As thousands of delegates checked out of their
air-conditioned hotel rooms in Doha to board their jets for
home, some asked whether the U.N. system even made matters worse
by providing cover for leaders to take no meaningful action.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Union’s landmark effort to charge foreign airlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the European Commission chief in October.

The U.S. aviation industry had mustered fierce political opposition, China was threatening to withhold aircraft orders from Airbus and the most influential European nations feared retaliation against their national carriers. Chinese and Indian airlines refused to submit emissions data; U.S. lawmakers were readying a law that could make it illegal to pay the tariff.

DOHA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Almost 200 nations extended on
Saturday a weakened U.N. plan for fighting global warming until
2020, averting a new setback to two decades of U.N. efforts that
have failed to halt rising world greenhouse gas emissions.

The eight-year extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012
keeps it alive as the sole legally binding plan for combating
global warming. But it was sapped by the withdrawal of Russia,
Japan and Canada, so its signatories now account for only 15
percent of global greenhouse emisions.

DOHA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Weak proposals to extend until 2020
a shrivelled U.N. plan to fight climate change pushed marathon
talks to the brink of collapse on Saturday.

Delegates from nearly 200 nations spent hours poring over a
package deal put forward by the host, OPEC member Qatar, that
would also postpone until 2013 a row over demands from
developing nations for more cash to help them cope with global
warming.

DOHA (Reuters) – Disagreements over how to help poor nations cope with everything from floods to rising seas pushed marathon U.N. climate change talks among almost 200 countries close to failure on Saturday.

The two-week U.N. meeting, originally due to end on Friday, was also struggling to agree on an extension of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, which obliges developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions and will otherwise expire on December 31.

DOHA (Reuters) – European Union countries have resolved a long-standing row over surplus sovereign pollution permits, the EU Commission said on Friday, a dispute that has slowed progress at U.N. climate change talks in Qatar.

The Commission, the European Union’s executive, declined to disclose detail on the deal.