This is the sort of news that makes me chuckle and wince. The chuckle is because, once again, reality disagrees with the liberal fantasy. In this case, that means that the EU bureaucrats aren't getting the control over industry that they had hoped would result from carbon-credit trading. Thanks to the recession, the big benefits are going to companies who haven't even done anything to cut their carbon output - just like a giant corporate welfare machine, while companies who have grown or been productive are being penalized for it. The wince is because only a government bureaucrat would be unable to see how they've just created an enormous mechanism that redistributes capital to those who use it least wisely.
Breitbart reports:
"Emissions trading is meant to be the central policy for cutting CO2 levels," said Anna Pearson, Sandbag's top policy analyst.
"The fact that companies are able to make large sums of money for doing nothing highlights that the trading scheme must be reformed and EU climate change target strengthened."
Under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the European Union allocates carbon polluting allowances to member states to meet obligations laid out in the UN's Kyoto Protocol, for which the first commitment period runs through 2012.
The states then assign quotas to the industries that belch the most CO2 into the atmosphere.
Companies that emit less than their allowance can sell the difference on the market to companies that exceed their limits, thus providing -- in theory -- a financial carrot to everyone to become greener.
But the energy, steel and cement sectors that dominate the system, hit by the global crunch, are emitting less CO2 than forecast, which means surplus carbon permits are flooding the market.
Among the top ten beneficiaries, steelmaker ArcelorMittal collected more than 40 percent of the 2008 excess permits, reported Sandbag.
French cement giant Lafarge got about 12 percent, with Tata steel group subsidiary Corus and Swedish steel maker SSAB-Svenskt Stal each claiming about 10 percent.
Even if the permits are not directly resold for profit, the value will still remain on the companies' books, rising or falling with the market.
Most of the permits were generated simply because the companies were allocated more free permits than they wound up using, according to the report.
"Little or no actual 'effort' toward emissions reductions need have taken place, yet these companies will be able to literally bank the profits," it said.
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