European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday defended the European Union's innovative emissions trading scheme which has been criticised by economists and the World Wildlife Fund. The scheme "had shown how cost-effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gases can be found, which oblige companies to find their own ways to reduce emissions", Barroso wrote in the German daily Berliner Zeitung.
"It is the cornerstone of a growing international trade in carbon dioxide and it is not surprising that many big US companies are demanding a similar system for the United States."
The scheme is supposed to be the main thrust of EU efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, but the WWF warned last week that the credibility of the fledgling initiative is under threat because member states are allotting more permits to pollute than industrial plants need.
More quotas were issued than polluters could use in 2005 and the European Commission has found that most of the EU member states that have already filed their allocation plans for the 2008-2012 period have once again handed out too many emissions permits.
Source: Agence France-Presse
