Europe’s carbon trading scheme faces fresh tribulations after new data shows a record number of offsets have been surrendered into the oversupplied system. The policy which is supposed to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from power stations, factories and airlines set the five year cap for 2008-2012 644 million tonnes higher than emissions over that period. The new data finds just over a billion [1] offsets have been surrendered into the scheme over that time, bringing the total surpluses in the period to a staggering 1.7 billion, equivalent to almost a year’s worth of spare allowances.

Today the European Parliament voted against temporarily removing 900m tonnes of CO2 allowances from the European Emissions Trading Scheme that currently the EU Parliament does not support a short-term fix for its ailing carbon market.

Just two weeks ahead of a key vote in the European Parliament, new data has been published which finds Europe’s emissions trading scheme more oversupplied with carbon allowances than ever before.

As MEPs prepare for a key vote on repairing Europe’s EU Emissions Trading Scheme next Tuesday, a new report released today finds that German manufacturing sectors have accrued spare carbon allowances equivalent to the annual emissions of Austria, while just ten companies have potentially profited by as much as €1.2 billion from the scheme.

Offsetting by European companies grew by a staggering 85% last year, according to new research by the environmental campaign group Sandbag. The companies policed by the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) submitted a total of 254 million credits to offset 13% of their carbon emissions. But Sandbag observes that the vast majority of these offset credits were due to be banned from the scheme in 2013.

Joint press release from WWF Belgium and Sandbag.

Green groups, Sandbag and the Low Carbon Community Network (LCCN), have called upon the steelmaker ArcelorMittal – official London 2012 Olympic Supporter - to offset the carbon emissions of the 2012 Olympic Games by cancelling spare carbon allowances it received from European governments. Campaigners from Sandbag and the LCCN argue that less than 3% of the excess EU certificates the steelmaker received for free would be sufficient to make the games carbon neutral.

Emisní povolenky Další analýza výsledků emisního obchodování za uplynulé čtyři roky ukázala, jak je nástroj původně určený k nákladově efektivnímu snižování emisí, továrnou na peníze. Český žebříček firem, které nahromadily nejvíce přebytečných emisních povolenek, zveřejnilo Centrum pro dopravu a energetiku a britská organizace Sandbag.

The report from the emissions trading watchdog Sandbag highlights that Europe’s GDP growth forecasts out to 2020 are down by a third since the caps in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) were set, and that this has lowered emissions projections within the scheme by 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2e against the baselines used to determine the carbon budget.

The European Commission today released the number of international carbon offsets used for compliance in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) during 2011. Sandbag's initial analysis shows that in 2011 a total of 254million offsets were surrendered worth an estimated €2.6bn.

China’s domestic climate policies are gathering pace and have set in motion the development of seven pilot emissions trading schemes, putting ever more pressure on the EU to fix its own scheme.

New data released today from the European Commission find the emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) were 1.7 billion tonnes in 2011, down 2.45% on the previous year. This reduction is unlikely to be a result of the ETS which, including auctions, assigned 163 million excess carbon allowances in 2011, and is most likely a reflection of lower than expected economic output and other climate policies.

This brings the total surplus accrued by the ETS over the current carbon budget to 355 million allowances with auctions included.

Sandbag welcomes this development, and hopes to see political support for recalibrating the ETS grow within the parliament and council in the coming months.

The inclusion of aviation emissions into the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) sees airlines paying for the green house gases emitted during flights. Starting from the 1st January 2012 all flights taking off from and landing at airports in the European Union have to surrender emissions permits to match volume of emissions produced during the flight. In 2012 airlines will be given 85% of their allowances for free, falling to 82% annually from 2013 to 2020. The UK is a key European aviation hub and all airlines landing and taking off here will be affected by the new environmental legislation.

Berlin: Unternehmen vor allem der Stahl-, Zement- und Chemiebranche machen in Deutschland mit dem europäischen Emissionshandel ein Millionengeschäft. Das ergibt sich aus einer Studie der britischen Umweltorganisation „Sandbag Climate Campaign“, die sie heute gemeinsam mit dem Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) und Germanwatch in Berlin veröffentlichte. Anstatt ihre Emissionen des Klimagases CO2 zu reduzieren, missbrauchten Teile der Industrie den Emissionshandel als profitable Einnahmequelle, so der Vorwurf der Umweltorganisationen.

A forecast 1.9 billion tonne oversupply of carbon permits in EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is undermining action on climate change. Urgent need to agree reduction of permit supply before next trading period begins in 2013.

New research by Sandbag Climate Campaign shows the expected oversupply of carbon permits in the ETS growing to 1.9 billion tonnes through until 2020. This will likely depress carbon prices yet further, delay low-carbon investment and fail to halt the growth in Europe's carbon emissions.

Big polluters set to gain billions from pollution controls that they claim are damaging their business. Findings further isolate voices opposing stronger policies to support green growth.

New research by Sandbag Climate Campaign has revealed the top ten companies profiting from Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), all of whom are prominent members of trade associations actively lobbying to prevent the system from being reformed.

The Carbon Fat Cats, all of them steel and cement companies, share between them surplus carbon permits (EUAs) of 240 million tonnes – more than the annual carbon emissions of Austria, Denmark, Portugal and Latvia combined.

Steel industry banks 212 million carbon permits, worth €3.4 billion, to pollute another day; tightening of cap essential to rescue flagship climate policy.

Steel industry banks 212 million carbon permits, worth €3.4 billion, to pollute another day; tightening of cap essential to rescue flagship climate policy.

Give a gift with real atmosphere: destroy some pollution permits through Carbon Destruction, from the Sandbag Climate Campaign

Today the Sandbag Climate Campaign announced the relaunch of its Carbon Destruction service that lets the public buy and cancel pollution permits and take them out of the hands of would-be polluters. These pollution permits are used to control around two billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually from Europe’s power stations and factories and Carbon Destruction is designed to let everyone get involved to make sure there are fewer of them.

Available at sandbag.org.uk/carbon, Carbon Destruction provides...

Italy stands to waste €2.2 billion on foreign carbon credits between 2008 and 2012 according to a new report from the emissions trading NGO Sandbag.

The government's attempts to shield Italian companies from reducing their emissions in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will mean €1.7 billion in taxpayers' money will need to be spent on foreign carbon credits if the country is to meet its obligations under the UN Kyoto Protocol. In addition, Italian companies in the ETS are expected to spend a further €500 million in private funds outsourcing their carbon reductions overseas rather than investing at home.

L'Italia rischia di sperperare 2,2 miliardi di Euro per l'acquisto di crediti esteri di anidride carbonica tra il 2008 e il 2012, secondo un nuovo report della ONG londinese Sandbag.

Il tentativo del governo di proteggere le imprese italiane dalle riduzioni dei livelli di emissioni previsti nell'ambito dell'EU Emission Trading Scheme significa che 1,7 miliardi di Euro di denaro pubblico sara' necessario per l'acquisto di crediti generati all'estero, se il paese ha intenzione di ottemperare agli obblighi sottoscritti con il protocollo di Kyoto. Le imprese italiane soggette all'Emission Trading si troveranno inoltre a spendere 500 milioni di Euro per trasferire le proprie riduzioni di emissioni all'estero invece di investire in ambito domestico.

As Environment Ministers meet in Luxembourg today the issue of whether the EU should take on more challenging climate targets will be high on the agenda. A new report issued by campaign group Sandbag today calls on the EU to focus more attention on how to achieve emissions savings in the uncapped sectors and recommends exploring use of the already operational trading mechanisms.

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the flagship policy covering half of the EU’s carbon emissions, could turn intended restrictions on pollution into a trap that commits Europe to increasing carbon emissions for much of the next decade, unless changes are swiftly introduced, warns campaign group Sandbag.

European companies, whilst claiming tougher emissions targets would be 'impossible to meet' and are damaging their competitiveness, are making extensive use of offsetting to meet their targets and even using it to directly subsidising their international competitors by for example purchasing offset credits originating in Chinese and Indian steel works. A new report by climate campaign group Sandbag into the use of international carbon offsets to meet legally binding caps in Europe in 2009 reveals for the first time direct evidence of how Europe is subsidising its competitors and calls for reforms.

EU flagship climate policy fails to require any emissions reductions before 2017. Instead of encouraging firms to reduce their emissions, the EU emissions trading scheme is actually guaranteeing high level of emissions can continue in to the future.

New data released by the European Commission today reveals that industrial emissions in 2009 fell by a dramatic 11% in a single year putting them below the caps that have been set.

Today Sandbag launches an on-line interactive map and report showing for the first time exactly what UK companies are using to comply with their carbon emissions caps and where they are getting their offsets from.

Today Sandbag launches an on-line interactive map and report showing for the first time exactly what European companies are using to comply with their carbon emissions caps and where they are getting their offsets from.

New research out today from Sandbag Climate Change compiled in association with www.carbonmarketdata.com reveals the top ten companies set to profit from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Sandbag is asking the EU to up its carbon ambition after the NGO's calculations found the union is already 90% of the way towards its current target.

Thinking of cutting down your carbon footprint? Cycling to work for a year will help save around a tonne of carbon... but signing the Sandbag petition to the EU could help prevent 3 billion tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere.

Over-allocation of permits to pollute have left the gate open for Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of steel giant ArcelorMittal, to make £1 billion from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, Sandbag investigations reveal.

A group of parkour athletes are descending on the UN's Barcelona climate negotiations to call for tighter global emissions targets as part of the One Giant Leap campaign.

The EU's promises to lead the way on emissions reduction are not nearly as ambitious as they seem, according to Sandbag research.

Sandbag has bought 2,000 tonnes-worth of carbon emission credits from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust - the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road.

Weak targets and slower-than-projected growth due to the recession mean it could be 2015 before polluters have to do anything to cut down their emissions, Sandbag has found.

Sandbag's new map illustrating polluters and their assigned permits shows only the electricity sector has received fewer credits than it needs meaning all other sectors can sell-on their permits to other polluters for a potential £180 million subsidy.

Poland's opposition to emissions tradition is stifling its own growth into non-traditional green technology and threatening to undermine the EU's position internationally.

Show someone you care with a virtual sandbag this Christmas and save as much CO2 as switching off 60 lightbulbs for a year.

Sandbag launches, focusing on making emissions trading fairer, more transparent and more effective.