Emissions certificates

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the EU's decision regarding emissions certificates for the control of greenhouse gases: "Certificate policy is a legitimate, powerful instrument for the state to limit the quantity of harmful emissions. But making companies pay for the initial allocation of certificates is an arbitrary tax in the name of environmental protection. The key point is that the certificates allocated should be tradeable. In this way prices are reached for the right to pollute which ensure that producers achieve the politically desired quality. This fosters an environment for investments which are in and of themselves environmentally sound, and thus do not require accompanying investment in the form of emissions certificates, which will only become increasingly rare and increasingly expensive as the economy grows. That is environmental policy based on the market value of pollution avoidance."

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