EU, Kyoto carbon registries to connect October 16

Nearly all carbon emissions trading registries in the European Union and under the Kyoto Protocol will link on October 16, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

The link will allow European companies participating in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to import cheaper carbon offsets issued to clean energy projects registered under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation schemes.

These offsets, which mainly come from projects in China, India and Latin America, can then be used to meet emissions targets under the EU ETS.

"The European Commission, member states and the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are on schedule to complete the live connection between the CITL, the UNFCCC International Transaction Log (ITL) and member state registries," a Commission statement said.

"The CITL will restart processing transactions at 8:00 a.m. (CEST), on Thursday, 16 October 2008," it said.

The Commission said all member state registries will be connected on Thursday with the exception of the United Kingdom and Romania, which will remain offline for several more days to allow for the allocation of EU permits, and Belgium and Luxembourg, which are undergoing maintenance until October 20.

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Source: Reuters