Saying that last week was one of major turbulence for the European carbon market is an understatement. The market came under massive pressure, with EUA Dec’26 dropping to a five-week low before posting a 3.95% weekly decline, as prices settled at €88.49 in Friday’s session.
It came as no surprise that European carbon prices rebounded during Thursday’s session, after Donald Trump appeared to soften his stance on potential military action in Greenland and on imposing new tariffs against European nations opposing his plans.
It was a wild session in the European carbon market, with EUA Dec’25 extending losses for a second consecutive day amid record trading volumes. The move served as a reminder of how swiftly and disorderly prices can reprice when positioning begins to unwind.
The European carbon market closed out last week firmly in positive territory, registering a 2.77% weekly gain—the strongest performance in two months. The benchmark eased modestly during Friday’s session, however, snapping an eight-session winning streak.
Yesterday, the European carbon market extended its rally for an eighth consecutive session. The EUA Dec-26 contract reached an intraday high of €93.80—its highest level since June 2023—but failed to sustain the gains and settled at €92.24, marking a daily increase of 0.46%.
Following a joint meeting with his Slovak counterpart, the populist Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš said he plans to draft a letter to EU governments calling, among other measures, for a temporary suspension of the EU Emissions Trading System.
European carbon prices climbed to their strongest level since July 2023 during Monday’s trading session, with the EUA December 2026 contract settling at €90.10 after a 0.6% daily gain. The market has now extended its rally to a fifth consecutive session.
European carbon prices started the week on a strong footing on Monday, carrying over upward momentum from Friday, when the market ended the week up 1.41%, marking its highest weekly gain in a month.
European carbon prices have traded largely flat since Wednesday, with the market showing little reaction to the return of daily EUA auctions and forecasts revised toward warmer conditions, factors that would normally exert downward pressure on prices.
The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from the ICE platform, published on Wednesday morning, shows that investment funds reduced their net long holdings (long positions minus short positions) for a second consecutive week.