Carbon permits: The burning issue
Carbon floor price or free market? Europe's debate shows no signs of calming
For more than a decade Europe's carbon market has been at the centre of a debate on whether a trading emissions system is more effective than taxation. Even as ambitious efforts to reform the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) near completion, critics say setting a floor price for carbon would lead to greater reductions. Since 2007, the EU ETS built up an oversupply of EU allowances (EUAs) that at its peak was around 2bn tonnes, or the equivalent of a year's worth of emissions from the entire market. Prices plunged from nearly €30 ($/35.39) per tonne in 2008 to €2.46/tonne in April 2013, leading many critics to claim that low prices had removed all incentives to cut climate pollution. The
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
