Expert Panel Advises Lowering EU Cap and Trade Emissions

The EU must lead the way in setting realistic carbon emissions targets to help tackle climate change and energy consumers should prepare for more expensive electricity prices, according to a panel of industry experts.

The joint plenary discussion led by international broadcaster Stephen Sackur at PowerGen, Amsterdam, agreed on the importance of a setting a carbon floor price as the best way of capping polluters to ultimately tackle climate change.

RWE Technology CEO Mattias Hartung said that the next step is to reduce cap and trade emissions while other panel members emphasised the importance of a more robust CO2 price to help reduce harmful emissions.

However, panel members were keen to stress that the current economic environment could make this difficult as they debated energy efficiency and pricing methods.

“The days of cheap energy are long gone, and we have to get used to that,” said Association of Electricity Producers in the UK chief executive David Porter.

The director of strategy and research of the World Nuclear Association, Stephen Kidd, added that “cheap and reliable energy does not always go together”.

When asked about the likelihood of a more conclusive global climate agreement following the disappointing Copenhagen summit last December, all panel members were in agreement that it was unlikely that politicians would reach an overwhelming deal at the next meeting in Cancun, Mexico later this year.