“Our months of intense work in specifying the previous allocation plan and communicating with the European Commission have borne fruit and the dispute with the Commission that has been going on since 2007 was finally ended. Today, a long period of insecurity will end for dozens of Estonian businesses, finally having clarity in how much emissions they can produce,” explained the Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus when talking about the background of this decision.
“We received the approval for the allocation plan on the third attempt and I believe the key to success this time was a transparent methodology that applies equally to everyone. It takes into consideration the certified emissions to air in 2005–2010 by businesses, and thus also reflects both the economic growth and recession years,” the Minister said.
The volume of the allocation plan is 13.3 million European Union Allowances(EUAs) per year, which, according to the plan, will be allocated to 47 Estonian businesses.
The Minister of the Environment also emphasised that there was definitely no aim of receiving a permission to emit as much CO2 to the air as possible, but an allocation plan that is based on actual needs and motivates saving. “The less Estonian businesses pollute the air and the more environmentally friendly technologies are introduced, the least impact the quotas regulating air emission will have on our businesses,” Keit Pentus said.
Estonia had been
having a dispute with the European Commission on the national allocation plan
for the allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances since
2007. On two previous instances, the European Commission has rejected the
Estonian allocation plan. |
