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"We are very close to agreement between the
European Council and European Parliament on carbon market
reform," Sefcovic, a vice-president in the European Commission,
told a news conference in Brussels.
In an effort to bolster carbon prices and spur industry to
switch to greener energy, the EU's executive European Commission
has proposed a plan to remove hundreds of millions of surplus
carbon permits from the EU Emissions Trading System from 2021.
However, some member states such as Britain and Germany, and
some utilities, want action to begin earlier, in 2017.
Poland, dependent on carbon-heavy coal, and energy-intensive
industry say the Commission proposal of 2021 is soon enough and
the divisions between the two sides have been echoed in the
European Parliament.
On Jan. 22, a pro-industry European Parliament committee failed
to agree a date to reform the EU ETS, in the first of a series
of votes in the coming weeks.
A source in the Parliament said the committee vote showed how
split opinion is. The European Council of member states is also
still divided, other sources said.
In the next step, the European Parliament environment committee
will vote on the proposal on Feb. 24.
Benchmark EU carbon permits were trading at around 7.10 euros a
tonne on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; writing by Nina Chestney in London;
editing by Susan Thomas)
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