The price of carbon allowances has increased by 6-7 times over the last 4-5 years, reaching more than 40 euros at present, said Mihai Drăghici, Senior Manager, Business Consulting Services, EY Romania, during the conference “Decarbonization: How fast? Where to?”, organized by Energynomics.

“In the last 5 years, a period when we had a 40% CO2 reduction target by 2030 compared to 1990 this price level has been reached, an increase of almost 6 times – to 40 euros. The question is where we will get if this target is set to 60%. The companies concerned will have to resort to a higher extent on the mandatory market and prices will increase,” Mihai Drăghici said.

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Current carbon certificate prices are throwing coal producers into uncertainty. At around €35 per ton of CO2 emitted per MWh for a coal-fired power station, against a price of electricity of €55 per MWh, the transition to a sustainable energy mix will need to be accelerated.

The price of carbon allowances also influences industry, especially energy-intensive companies.

“All of these companies suffer from the rise in the CO2 price. The European Union is helping us, including by assessing a mechanism for taxing CO2 emissions at EU borders. This mechanism is scheduled to enter into force in 2023 and is intended to favour EU companies, or better said, not to disadvantage EU companies, in competition with other companies outside the Union which do not have this CO2-related expenditure”, Mihai Drăghici explained.

The Union’s targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency are important in terms of reducing emissions. For reaching the targets the EU provides generous financing of more than €30 billion by 2030.

“There are significant funds made available by the European Union, however those will not come without doing our homework. In this respect, we, EY, can also help, especially the industrial companies and large producers, by developing those relevant projects for attracting the EU funds and implementing energy efficiency projects” he said, presenting the EY solutions.

Autor: Bogdan Tudorache

Active in the economic and business press for the past 26 years, Bogdan graduated Law and then attended intensive courses in Economics and Business English. He went up to the position of editor-in-chief since 2006 and has provided management and editorial policy for numerous economic publications dedicated especially to the community of foreign investors in Romania. From 2003 to 2013 he was active mainly in the financial-banking sector. He started freelancing for Energynomics in 2013, notable for his advanced knowledge of markets, business communities and a mature editorial style, both in Romanian and English.