The European Commission, which halted spot trade in its carbon market two weeks ago due to thefts, said it will reopen emissions registries in five countries on Friday after being told security was in place.
Registries in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and the Britain will resume normal operations on Friday at 0700 GMT (0800 CET), the European Union executive said in a statement on Thursday.
However, most carbon exchanges are still reviewing security issues, which could prevent spot transactions resuming quickly.
The European Commission halted spot trade on January 19 after 3.1 million permits, called EU Allowances (EUAs), vanished from national electronic carbon registries in Greece, Austria and the Czech Republic after attacks by cyber criminals.
The thefts brought spot carbon transactions, which account for around 10 percent of the market’s turnover, to a halt because the Commission closed registries, which enable the transfer of EUAs, until they put in place stricter security.
European police agency Europol said this week that organized crime syndicates were behind the 45 million euro ($62.01 million) theft and they could also be responsible for a tax fraud scam in the market, which is being investigated separately.
The emissions market, in which companies with a surplus of permits to emit greenhouse gas can sell them to companies with a shortage, is the EU’s chief weapon against climate change.
Exchanges
Many investors have lost faith in the market and recovery will be slow at best when spot trade reopens.
UK climate change minister Greg Barker said Britain would continue to press the Commission for tight registry security across the EU so confidence is restored in the market.
The Commission expects several more security reports from national registry authorities in the next few days, and will continue to give advance notice 24 hours ahead when other registries come back online, it said.
Registries in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Slovakia confirmed they would be back online on Friday.
ICE Futures Europe, the EU’s largest emissions exchange, said spot transactions were suspended until further notice and it would give 36 hours’ notice before lifting the ban.
A spokesman from France’s BlueNext said spot activity would remain suspended until the exchange can filter out the stolen permits.
GreenX said it was still reviewing the situation.
Spot trade on Germany’s EEX has been technically possible because of its method of holding the deliveries of carbon units, a spokesman told Point Carbon News.
