Le relèvement du plafond d'émissions autorisées dans le cadre du plan britannique d'allocation de quotas doit encore être soumis à l'approbation de la Commission européenne.
The announcement on 27 October that the UK government is planning to grant industry an extra 19.8 MT of CO2 emissions allowances means its National Allocation Plan (NAP) will have to be re-assessed to qualify for the EU emissions trading scheme.
Environment spokeswoman Ewa Hedlund confirmed that, if overall allocations are increased, the Commission would have to "consider it as a new plan". "I can't say how long it will take" Hedlund said. "We have to make a complete re-assessment".
The announcement was heavily criticised by environmentalists and opposition parties who blamed Prime Minister Tony Blair for making promises on tackling climate change and then bowing to industry pressure.
Climate Action Network Europe (CAN) told EurActiv this "seriously damages" a previous announcement by Mr. Blair that he would make use of next year's G8 and EU Presidency to make climate change a key priority (see EurActiv, 15 Sept. 2004 ).
CAN points out that the upward revision of the UK NAP would undermine the Commission's efforts. "The Commission managed to take nearly 48 MT off the 16 plans adopted so far and now the UK alone puts an additional 20 MT in, eliminating nearly half of the Commission's effort". This, CAN added, is equivalent to 120% of what seven other EU countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg and Portugal) together were prepared to cut (-5.4 MT annually). "We call on the Commission to reject this increase" said CAN's Matthias Duwe.
In a statement, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said it "welcomed the government attempts to soften the blow" but added that "these would be more than wiped out because of revised projections for future gas emissions".
"It's vital the European Commission approves the three per cent increase in allowances proposed by the UK government," said CBI Director-General, Digby Jones.
The initial NAP, submitted on 30 April 2004 to the Commission, capped emissions by Britain's largest industrial plants at 736.3 million tonnes (MT) of CO2 over the next three year period (2005-2007). The revised version, which is still to be seen and approved by the Commission, allows emissions to reach 756.1 MT.
At the time, DEFRA made it clear that the NAP was still at draft stage. Indeed, some degree of revision is tolerated within industry sectors before emission allowances are issued to companies. But any upward revision of allowances has to return to the Commission for approval.
So far, 16 NAPs have been approved by the Commission, some upon the condition that certain changes are made (see EurActiv, 22 Oct. 2004 ). A further batch is expected to be approved before the end of 2004. Greece is the only one of the 25 EU member states still to submit its NAP.
