Last year, large Catalan industrial and energy companies significantly reduced their carbon footprint. The CO2 emissions records show a decrease of 9%, to 11.7 million tons, which also contributed to reducing the deficit with respect to the assigned emissions rights, according to data validated by the Department of Climate Action, through the Catalan Office of Canvi Climàtic.
Specifically, the differential between greenhouse gases emitted and community permits stood at 3.9 million tons, which represents a decrease of 21% compared to a year before. If the prices of recent months are taken into account, around 60 euros per ton, these companies will pay close to 240 million euros to cover their surplus greenhouse gases. Presumably, the cost of rights will increase as the deadline for handing them over at the end of September approaches. Otherwise, they face significant fines.
For almost 20 years, the European Union has been applying a system for allocating CO2 emission rights for polluting companies. “It is an economic instrument with environmental purposes. It is quite effective, because companies have reduced their emissions and they have done so flexibly: it is the companies themselves that decide where they reduce their gases,” comments the head of the Catalan Office of Canvi Climàtic, Leo Bejarano.
The companies that must assume a greater outlay on emissions are electricity companies because they are excluded from the distribution of free rights. Endesa has a negative balance of 1.1 million tons of CO2 from its thermal power plant in Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Naturgy has a negative result of 928,000 tons of CO2 from its combined cycle plants and Alpiq Energía (217,613 tons), among others. . For its part, Repsol also accumulates a negative balance of 433,438 tons due to its refinery processes. Other multinationals with a negative balance are Dow Chemical (-40,897 tons), Covestro (-37,000 tons) or Lafarge Holcim (-35,313 tons).
The deficit in emissions rights is common throughout the EU. Companies come to buy surpluses returned from other companies. These funds are allocated to different community investment vehicles specialized in promoting sustainability policies. Each year, fewer emission allowances are allocated, which has driven up their price. In 2022, they reached around 95 euros per ton.
In the Catalan industry, the deficit began to be recorded in 2013, a year after the reform that restricted an allocation that until now had generated an oversupply. Since then, 48 million tons of greenhouse gases have accumulated.
In Catalonia, the Emissions Trading System (ETS) affects 95 facilities in sectors such as energy, refining, cement, chemicals and raw organic products, among others. Precisely, the industries that reduced their emissions the most were electrical energy production (-673,543 tons of CO2 less than the previous year), followed by cement manufacturing (-321,852 tons) and the paper and cardboard manufacturing sector ( -143,320 tons). On the other hand, refineries increased their emissions (58,378 tons), as did the cast iron/steel industries, non-ferrous metal production, lime production, and hydrogen and synthesis gas production.
“The decline in the cement and paper sector is linked to reductions in activity in the sector, while the significant decrease in emissions in the electricity generation sector is explained, first of all, by a slight contraction in electricity demand, and, above all, all, due to a positive balance of imports of electricity generated outside Catalonia, with a lower carbon intensity than electricity generated locally,” the report states.
The emissions rights market (EU ETS) is expanding. The European Union has approved a directive to include other sectors within this regime, such as road and maritime transport, buildings and the rest of the industries not included. Member states are currently transposing the regulations.
