European carbon markets begun last week with three consecutive days of heavy losses, which culminated on Wednesday when EUAs traded at fresh all-time lows. Some of the lost ground was made up on Thursday and Friday but not near enough to fix the damage felt earlier in the week.  Dec 11 EUAs closed the week trading at €6.88 (AU$9.00) and Dec 11 CERs trading at €4.44 (AU$5.81).

Amendments to the draft EU energy efficiency directive to amend the law governing the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to withhold a substantial number of EU allowances (EUAs) from Phase III (2013-20) of the ETS saw the CER price jump 30% in one day. A clear majority of the committee backed this amendment, according to reports, but another vote on the quantity to be set aside – 1.4 billion – was passed by just one vote.