The Goracle May Be Offended

On Monday, insisting that there be a fair playing field, the Czech Republic filed a lawsuit against the European Commission over cuts in CO2 permits.

In an analysis worked out for the ministry, the way the Commission proceeded when setting the amount of carbon credits for the Czech Republic was interpreted as discriminatory against Czech energy and industrial companies, he added.

The Czech Republic asked for permissions to emit 102 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, but the Commission only approved 86.8 million tonnes a year. The lawsuit was proposed by Industry and Trade Minister Martin Riman.

The lawsuit has been sent to a first-instance court in Luxembourg where the Czech Republic will be represented by Tomas Bocek, government commissioner for the European Court of Justice and procedures with the European Commission.

By means of emission allowances, the European Union tries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that are believed to cause global warming.

Not known to cause global warming, merely believed.

Within the emissions trading scheme, companies that want to emit more greenhouse gases than the set ceiling can buy extra carbon credits on the European market. In contrast, firms producing less emissions can sell their excess allowances.

The collapse of carbon credit prices in the middle of last year, which was caused by a surplus of allowances, was another reason for the Commission to resort to a reduction of carbon credits allocated to individual countries.

Why would someone be concerned about the price of carbon credits?