It’s emissions time again and the government is looking for an advisor that will cash in a handsome commission for helping sell our polluted air, and we can only hope that this time things at the Ministry of Environment will be more transparent than last time.
The Ministry is making a call for tenders from consulting companies that will mediate the sale of Slovakia’s CO2 emission quotas as part of the Green Investment Scheme. Consulting companies have until 15 August to present the ministry with their offers.
The sale of CO2 emissions will be done by direct agreement, while environment minister Jozsef Nagy says he wants the sale of our pollution to be a ‘clean’ affair, unlike last time when the Interblue Group cashed in on the sale as an intermediary as it bought up 15 million tons of emission quotas well below the market price (at just over EUR 5) before selling them on to the Japanese at an almost 60% markup price (for EUR 8).
The Interblue affair took place in 2008 while the Ministry of Environment was under the control of nationalist party SNS. Interblue was just a garage company registered in the US and has since been wound up with its rights and obligations passing to new company Interblue Group Europe. Minister Nagy is still trying to get EUR 15 million back from the company.
The money from the sale of Slovakia’s 27 million tons of emissions should be used for environmental purposes.