BRUSSELS: Emissions capped by Europe’s carbon market fell 3.7 percent in 2014, driven by higher output from renewable power producers and lower electricity consumption, analysts at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon said.
Firms covered by Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) emitted 1.838 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2014 compared with 1.907 billion tonnes a year earlier, the analysts estimated in a research note.
Official data on last year’s emissions will be released by the European Commission on April 1. Participants in Europe’s carbon market will be eyeing the numbers, which give an indication of demand for carbon permits.
The drop was driven by a 6.7 percent decrease in emissions from the heat and power sector, to 1.025 billion tonnes of CO2e, the analysts said.
Gas-fired power generation reversed the downtrend in recent years and replaced coal to some extent, as gas prices dropped amid warmer winter and bearish crude oil prices,” the analysts wrote.
Gas-fired power generation emits almost half the amount of carbon dioxide as coal–fired plants.
