European carbon allowances traded within a narrow €1 range during Friday’s session. The benchmark contract ultimately settled at €79.20, up just 0.20% on the day, as traders remained cautious ahead of the weekend while awaiting greater regulatory clarity.
Ahead of the publication of the European Commission’s review of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), now scheduled for 17 July after being postponed from 15 July, reports and media headlines are beginning to shed light on the proposals under consideration.
The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from ICE, released on Wednesday morning, showed that investment funds reduced their net long positions (the difference between long and short positions) after they had reached a four-month high in the previous reporting week.
The European carbon market reversed course during Tuesday’s trading session, giving back all of the strong gains recorded a day earlier. The downturn followed Monday’s rally, when the EUA December 2025 contract settled at its highest level in five months.
A new study published by Carbon Market Watch found that the chemical industry emitted approximately 1.28 GtCO₂e between 2013 and 2024 while receiving free emission allowances covering around 1.26 GtCO₂e. As a result, the industry effectively paid for only around 2% of its total emissions, while receiving free allowances worth an estimated €36 billion.
European carbon allowances strengthened into the end of last week, with benchmark EUA futures settling at €80.60. The contract gained 1.45% on Friday, allowing the market to finish the week 0.4% higher than the previous Friday’s close.
The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from the ICE platform, released this week, indicates that investment funds have continued to increase their net long positions (the difference between long and short positions) for the second consecutive week.
Following a 1.87% decline on Monday—the largest one-day loss in two months—EUA prices staged a recovery in Tuesday’s trading session. The rebound came after a senior lawmaker on climate policies dismissed the false reports that had triggered Monday’s sell-off.
Despite a brief rebound at the beginning of the week, the European carbon market failed to sustain upward momentum, trading sideways for the remainder of the week and closing on Friday at €80.28, down a marginal 0.37% on the week.
As a heatwave grips France, with temperatures reaching exceptional levels, EDF, the French state-owned utility that operates 57 reactors across 19 nuclear power plants—has been forced to reduce nuclear output by almost 10%.