Italy Approves EU Requested CO2 Cut Plan 2008-2012
MILAN - Italy has given its final
approval to a plan to cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in
2008-2012 by the full amount the European Commission has requested, the
Environment Ministry said on Tuesday.
Brussels said last May Italy
must cut the greenhouse gas emissions by companies covered by the
bloc's emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2008-2012 to 195.8 million
tonnes a year, or by about six percent less than Rome had proposed
initially.
Italy had agreed to cut C02 emissions from sectors
covered by the ETS by 13.65 million tonnes "in full respect to the
Commission's decision", the ministry said, after months of debates with
smokestack industries.
But the total cap has been raised to 201.63 million
tonnes after new industrial processes, including cracking in oil
refining, were added to the ETS as agreed with Brussels, the ministry
said in a statement.
Brussels has been notified of the finalised national
allocation plan (NAP), it said. The NAP -- which was revised during
consultations with industries in December-February -- is published on
the ministry's Web site www.minambiente.it.
Italy is one of the countries lagging furthest behind on targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
Under the final version of Italy's NAP, the CO2 emission
quota for new industrial plants -- a subject of intense debate as it is
considered to be important for overall economic development -- was
raised to an average of 16.93 million tonnes a year from 15.65 million
tonnes earmarked in December.
The ETS -- part of Europe's efforts to fight global
climate change -- puts a cap on the CO2 emissions of energy-intensive
industry, including those of installations yet to be built.
As agreed in December, Italy's fossil fuel-fired power
generation would bear the brunt of CO2 reductions as the sector is
requested to cut annual emissions by 9.5 million tonnes to 85.29
million tonnes.
Those cuts would not include co-generation plants and
plants producing renewable energy which are covered by the government
CIP-6 incentive plan.
The oil refinery sector would have to tighten its cap on
annual emissions by 1 million tonnes to 19.06 million tonnes. In the
steel sector, annual cuts of 1.72 million tonnes to 22.72 million
tonnes are focused only on power generators feeding steel plants.
The share of emissions that can be offset by credits
earned or bought in developing nations is cut to 15 percent of total
assigned limits from 25 percent in the previous plan.
But fuel-fired power plants can offset up to 19.3
percent od their emissions with certified emission reductions (CERs)
and emission reduction units (ERUs) -- which usually cost industries
less than reducing their own emissions.
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)
Story Date: 6/3/2008
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