BRATISLAVA, December 16, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia has 27 million tons of available allocated emission units (AAU), which are to be sold until 2012. Minister of Environment Jozsef Nagy (MOST-HID) says the sale of emission quotas is not easy because there is no real market where free emission quotas could be traded so deals are arranged with possible buyers individually. However, buyers have taken wait-and-see attitude, said the minister. The case from two years ago when the Ministry of Environment led by then coalition party SNS sold 15 million tons of free emission units for almost EUR 76 million to the US garage company Interblue Group spoiled Slovakia’s business with quotas. Former opposition found the deal very disadvantageous and non-transparent.
“We register over ten potential buyers, we have held and are still holding talks but they all have taken wait-and-see attitude,“ said Nagy. He further stated that Poland and Estonia had recently made deals with their emission quotas, which they started preparing back in the spring. The Czech Republic has allegedly also sold a small amount of quotas. “The price per unit was under EUR 5/ton,“ said Nagy on the basis of unofficial information on the sale of the Czech quotas. Slovakia sold its emission quotas for EUR 5.05 per ton in 2008. He blames the current situation on the panic that arose because of impossibility to shift free emission quotas to the next period. “If there ever is any next period of the Kyoto Protocol after 2013,“ he concluded. The mentioned panic has also pushed the prices down on the market with free emission quotas. The case with the company Interblue Group caused that no deals with Slovakia’s free quotas have been sealed for two years. “The situation has been very unclear also because this case spoiled out international reputation. Serious buyers comment on the case very reservedly,“ said Nagy. He illustrated this by saying that the Japanese ambassador referred to Slovakia’s emission businesses not very positively. “He told me in almost non-diplomatic manner that Japanese companies have problems with our quotas,‘ said Nagy.
SITA