NYTimes: E.U. Carbon System in Doubt as Higher Permit Prices Rejected

The European Parliament on Tuesday rejected an attempt to raise companies’ costs of emitting greenhouse gases, dealing a potential death blow to Europe’s world-leading effort to use emission permits to combat climate change.

The proposal was meant to put teeth into efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the smokestacks of utility companies and manufacturers, by curtailing the availability of permits that allow companies to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Scientists have linked such gases to global warming.

The proposed measure, which in effect would have made it much more costly to pollute, was narrowly rejected in a 334-to-315 vote.

In voting down the proposal, members of the European Parliament seemed to focus less on the global environmental implications than on holding down energy costs as Europe continues to struggle to revive economic growth.  MORE