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Brief - UK and Commission on collision course over CO2 emissions

Published 16 February 2005 - Updated 29 June 2007
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The UK and the European Commission are heading for a legal stand-off after both parties threatened to take each other to court over the UK's upward revision of its CO2 emissions plan.

The publication by the UK government of a revised list of CO2 emissions allowances for its industry could end up before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), just days after Tony Blair repeated pledges to make climate change his top priority for the G8 and EU presidencies this year (see EurActiv, 27 Jan. 2005).

In a statement to the press on 14 February, the Commission said it considered "illegal" the UK's 20 million tonne upward revision of CO2 allocation, first announced in October last year (see EurActiv, 29 Oct. 2004). 

"The Government continues to press the UK's case with the Commission and is taking steps to protect its legal position," the Department for environment, food and rural affairs said in a statement.

The announcement comes in the same week that the Kyoto Protocol to curb global climate change enters into force (16 Feb. 2005).

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