The theft of 2 million carbon allowances worth an estimated €30 million is now the fourth major attack on the European carbon emissions trading system, which has also been the subject of threats from carousel fraud, as well as phishing scams.
This latest attack is thought to be due to computer hacking and on 19 January, provoked the suspension of the trading scheme after 475,000 allowances went missing from the account of Blackstone Global Ventures, a trader based in the Czech city of Brno.
The EU "cap-and-trade" system places emission limits on more than 11,000 utilities and manufacturers, capping their greenhouse gas discharges at 2.08 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Companies that go over their limit can buy permits, while those with surplus permits can sell them. Companies are obliged to own allowances for each tonne of carbon dioxide they produce. The bulk are given away free by Member State Governments, but can then be traded between market participants to penalise heavy polluters and reward the more energy efficient.
All national emission registries of Member States have now been suspended and will only be reactivated when Commission Officials are assured that minimum security requirements have been put in place.
Andreas Arvanitakis, senior analyst at Point Carbon, says an obvious starting point is improving the security of the computer systems with encryption and more layers of protection. "Each of the allowances has a serial number but sales happen so quickly in a few clicks that they are long gone before they can be traced. A buyer on an exchange could be completely unaware they are handling stolen goods."
The suspension had been expected to end on 26 January, however Brussels now says it may only lift the suspension on a country-by-country basis, with the UK thought to be one of the Member States most likely to be given the all-clear. The countries where the problems originated, such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece, are having the most difficulties adhering to security requirements.
Maria Kokkonen, the Commission's climate spokeswoman believed that once there is a centralised clearinghouse, starting in 2013, these sorts of problems will no longer be an issue.
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