The European Union has been too generous in the allocation of "pollution rights" established under the Kyoto Protocol. Indeed, most EU countries have emitted less carbon dioxide in 2006 as quotas granted by the governments in 9400 installations. After publication, Monday, April 2, by the European Commission of the balance sheets of exchanges of these emissions, the value per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2, the main greenhouse gas) is a new both collapsed to 95 cents in mid-day. It was worth more than 22 euros in January 2006. NGOs denounce too generous allocation of quotas for these industries, especially in France.

Although the European Commission has emphasized that this was only preliminary data subject to review, a trend is emerging: As in 2005, the EU member states have been too generous with their businesses . Only Britain and Spain circulated quota below their CO2 emissions by 2005. But eight major European countries are in the opposite situation. France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have issued a total of 1.56 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2006, while the quota amounted to 1.63 billion tons, or 71 million tons more. Carbon dioxide emissions from France stood at 118 million tons in 2006, compared with a quota of 150 million tonnes.

As a result, the price of a tonne of CO2 lost one third of its value Monday at mid-day, to 95 cents, a price deemed very insufficient incentives for companies to reduce their emissions instead of buying the rights to pollute. It is the whole system of exchange of rights which appears threatened, at a time when the EU wants to extend to the entire planet this mechanism it sees as an important way to combat climate change.

Thus, the collapse in the price of a tonne of CO2 agree with the European Commission, which is struggling with Member States to reduce the quotas they allocate to their facilities in their national allocation plans (NAPs) for 2008 -- 2012.