Will Gas Get Help From EU Carbon Price?

摘要

Will EU carbon prices ever rise enough to allow natural gas to compete effectively against coal, as oil and gas producers hope? The omens don't look good. Since its launch in 2005, Europe's emissions trading system (ETS) has struggled to establish the most basic requirement for a robust price — a scarcity of emissions credits. Despite several attempts at reform, prices are currently languishing at around ?5 ($5.70) per ton—a level that does nothing to stem coal use across most of continental Europe, let alone send the investment signals required for costly technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) (WGI Sep.30' 15).