Great carbon theft may have netted €28m of permits

Great carbon theft may have netted €28m of permits: "

Great carbon theft may have netted €28m of permits Up to two million European Union carbon allowances (EUAs) worth as much as €14 a tonne may have been stolen from registries across the European Union in the biggest ever fraud aimed at the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). "We haven't had a figure like two million allowances being stolen before," said Maria Kokkonen, spokesperson for EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard. "It is the biggest." On 19 January, the European Commission suspended trading in carbon spot markets after the disappearance of 475000 EUAs from the Czech national carbon registry, and a series of other attacks, prompted national registries there and in Greece, Estonia, Poland and Austria to shut down. The stolen credits, which make up around 0.02% of the ETS's total value, were then cashed on the spot markets within minutes. Questions have been raised about the level of attention that some countries have been giving to the ETS. Jos Delbeke, director-general at the Commission's climate action department, said: "I'm a bit speechless about the negligence some member states have been showing." www.euractiv.com

"