2020 State of the EU ETS Report

2020 State of the EU ETS Report

AUTHOR(S): ANDREI MARCU,DOMIEN VANGENECHTEN, EMILIE ALBEROLA, JAHN OLSEN, JEAN-YVES CANEILL,STEFAN P. SCHLEICHER AND ROMAN DE RAFAEL


The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is important through its role as the “cornerstone” of EU climate change policy as well as a “role model” and “pioneer” for carbon markets. It is important that, in addition to the regulatory requirements, it be subjected to a thorough and independent review, to discover if it delivers on explicit, and what have become “expected” objectives, as well as discover any issues that need to be better understood.

The Report is intended as a “snapshot”, providing policymakers and stakeholders with an overview of how the EU ETS is doing by April of each year, based on previous year data.

The report focuses on 6 key areas:

  • Implications of COVID-19
  • Recent policy developments
  • Environmental delivery
  • Economic delivery
  • Market functioning
  • The EU ETS in the European Green Deal

The State of the EU ETS Report aims to be an independent contribution to the policy debate, which is needed to ensure that the EU ETS is “fit for purpose.” This report discusses the current state of play in the EU ETS, while also identifying a number of issues that will need to be monitored in the coming years. This is the fifth, yearly edition of the Report.

This report is jointly produced by ERCST, BloombergNEFthe Wegener Center and Ecoact