Slovakia can sell around 27 million tons of CO2 emission allowances next year, either by direct sale, intermediated or by auction, reports SITA newswire. It has to sell them by the end of 2012 or will forfeit the allowance.
The going rate, according to the Ministry of Environment, is around EUR 5-7 per ton, but this rate will also depend on what happens at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, which is ongoing until 10 December.
Previous sales of emissions in Slovakia led to all kinds of accusations and problems after the Ministry of Environment, which was run at the time by nationalist party SNS, sold 15 tons of the country’s allocated emissions well below the market rate at the time.
It sold the emissions to an almost virtual company registered in the US, Interblue Group LLC, which was wound up afterwards, while still owing EUR 15 million back to Slovakia for green projects. An alleged successor showed up in the shape of Interblue Group Europe, but the Ministry does not acknowledge it as the successor and is now trying to enforce its EUR 15 million with the help of its lawyers.