On 23rd October 2001 the European Commission presented the proposal for a directive establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community. The proposal plans a collective European approach to trading with emission allowances, which should come into effect by 2005. The objective of this workshop, that took place one year after the publication of the proposal, was to gain an overall view of the discussion process and to draw up a first summary.

The Workshop Proceedings are available for download [zip, 3.4 MB, German].

The proposal by the European Commission plans a collective European approach to trading with emission allowances, which should come into effect by 2005. One year after the publication of this proposal, the opinions and positions of the various sectors have become more explicit and focus on certain aspects. In addition, first practical experiences have already been gained by the introduction of CO2 emission trading within and outside the EU. The objective of this workshop was to gain an overall view of the discussion process and to draw up a first summary. With the goal to achieve an economical reduction potential, the future development of emission trading is of particular importance to private industry. Against this background the Bavarian State Government and industry pledged in the Second Environmental Pact of Bavaria, not only to achieve the Bavarian goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 80 million tons by 2010, but also agreed to implement the flexible instruments agreed upon in Kyoto.

The workshop focused mainly on the following areas:

1. The climate policy of the European Union: After an introduction of the global setting for the European climate policy, representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament presented the current progress of discussions on the draft directive.
2. The workshop focused on the climate dialogue in Bavaria taking pace between the State Government and industry. Political strategies, concrete measures and the result of a study were put forward and analysed.
3. Finally opportunities and risks of an emission trading system were viewed from different perspectives. Special emphasis was placed on the specific consequences for Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany. Ecologic organized this event and took part in the workshop with thematic presentations.

This workshop took place in Brussels on 14 November 2002.

The Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection regularly holds workshops on current environmental issues at the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union in Brussels. Ecologic also organises the workshop in 2004 on soil protection. Further information on this workshop can be found at the event's website.