A senior European Commission official has pushed back against proposals for stronger measures to curb EU ETS price volatility put forward earlier this month by the European Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the bloc’s carbon market reform, Peter Liese.
The latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) report from ICE, released on Wednesday, shows that investment funds increased their net long positions—the difference between long and short positions—indicating that speculative traders have become more bullish on carbon prices.
Italy and the Czech Republic are joining forces on a package of measures aimed at easing pressure from high energy costs, with plans to bring the proposals before EU leaders at the European Council summit on October 15–16.
The European Commission last week published its second 2026 status table on free allocation to industry and heat production, showing that 77.5% of the allowances listed in the latest National Allocation Tables (NATs) had been transferred as of 24 September, marking only limited progress from 72.5% two weeks earlier.
Last week, European carbon prices showed strong resilience against a sharp sell-off in energy markets, edging down just 0.1% even as the TTF front-month contract fell 9.5%, highlighting a clear decoupling between carbon and natural gas.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday at a meeting of the Competitiveness Council, Austrian Economics and Labour Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer called for European climate protection goals to be more closely aligned with the interests of industry.
Yesterday, EU member states, through their ambassadors in Coreper, agreed on the Council’s position on a targeted reform of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) for the existing EU ETS. Talks with the European Parliament can therefore begin, with the aim of reaching a final agreement by the end of 2026.
The latest Commitment of Traders report, published by ICE on Wednesday and covering the week ended September 18, showed that investment funds increased their net-long position—the difference between long and short positions—by around 7% week on week.
Last week ended on a positive note for the European carbon market, marking a fifth consecutive week of gains. Prices were supported by last-minute compliance buying as market participants moved to cover their obligations, while bullish signals from the energy complex provided additional momentum.
As part of the wider review of the EU ETS, but through a separate legislative process, the EU is revising the heat and fuel benchmarks, known as “fallback benchmarks”, which apply to industrial activities not covered by a specific product benchmark.