European Union Emission Trading Scheme

European Union countries on Tuesday finally approved the biggest-ever reform of Europe's carbon emissions market, which will make pollution more expensive and strengthen the 27-member bloc's main tool for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters reported.

Future carbon border tax should be introduced for products of oil refineries and the glass, paper and aluminium industry and not only for the power sector and energy-intensive industrial sectors like cement, steel, chemicals, and fertilisers, European lawmakers said.

The Parliament has adopted amendments to the Climate Change Mitigation Act on second reading, Focus News Agency reported.
The bill aims to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments.

EU officials are still waiting to receive crucial air pollution reduction programmes from fifteen EU governments, including France, Germany, Poland and Spain.

Plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light and light commercial vehicles by 2030, unofficially approved by EU ministers, were voted by MEPs.

The Council today adopted a regulation on greenhouse gas emission reductions. The regulation sets out binding emission reduction targets for member states in sectors falling outside the scope of the EU emissions trading system for the period 2021-2030.

Bulgaria ranks third in increase of harmful emission in the EU in 2017 according to data provided by Eurostat for the previous year, quoted by bTV. For the past year, the increase in Bulgaria was 8.3%, with Estonia (11.3%) and Malta (12.8%) was worse. After us, in growth of harmful emissions is Spain (7.4%) and Portugal (7.3%).

Emissions regulated under Europe's carbon market rose for the first time in seven years in 2017 due to stronger industrial output, data published yesterday by the European Commission and examined by carbon analysts at Thomson Reuters showed.

Lilyana Pavlova, Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, and Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, today signed four key pieces of EU legislation to make possible its timely entry into force.

Reliable and transparent monitoring and emissions reporting are "step one" for an emerging carbon market, European Union Policy Director at International Emissions Trading Association Sarah Deblock said as she discussed the country's road map in energy transition within COP21 objectives.