EU rejects new UK emissions plan

The

today formally rejected the request from the

to increase the number of CO2 emission allowances to be granted to

companies.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "Our decision should not come as a surprise since we had told the UK authorities that its request was not acceptable.

“On the other hand I warmly welcome that the UK has nonetheless chosen to issue the originally planned number of allowances, which we had approved. This will allow UK companies to start participating fully in emissions trading."

On 7 July 2004, the Commission approved the UK national allocation plan (NAP), which envisaged the issuance of 736 million allowances (covering 736 million tonnes of CO2 emissions) to UK companies for the trading period 2005-2007.

On 10 November 2004, the UK authorities put forward a request to increase the total number of allowances to 756 million, last updating it on 18 February 2005.

The UK has announced that it will challenge the Commission decision before the European Court of Justice.

Today's Commission decision can be found

. Further information on emissions trading is available

.