Climate, energy and emissions trading in the EU and DK

European Union member states are facing two serious challenges: human-induced climatic changes and oil shortage. Evidence that human-induced global heating is threatening the climatic balance is piling up and the conflicts over the last oil resources are becoming critical. The European Union has neither large oil resources nor foreign-political or military power to conquer additional oil resources. The EU Commission's awareness of these facts is influencing the EU energy and climate policy. Recently EU launched the directive on carbon dioxide emissions trading within certain energy-heavy sectors. The greenhouse gas emission allowance trading directive requires a national ceiling on the allocation of CO2 quotas for the heavy industry and energy sectors, thus adapting the quantity of quotas to the Kyoto requirements. This requirement can be quite extensive for the sectors affected by the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading directive, if national governments choose to abstain from political intervention in order to reduce release of greenhouse gases in sectors outside the emissions trading, e.g. agriculture, transportation, households, and smaller industry and service. Lack of action in these sectors will require the governments to impose either large burdens or use of national Joint Implementation and Clean Development agreements on the heavy industry and energy sectors outside national borders, thus conflicting with the Kyoto Protocol. (BA)