Carbon dioxide emissions regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System rose marginally by an indicative 0.2% in 2017 from 2016 levels, according to partial data released Tuesday by the European Commission.
The annual data showed verified CO2 emissions from about 14,000 installations across 31 countries that participate in the EU ETS, providing an indicator of underlying compliance demand from power plants, factories and airlines across Europe.
The modest increase in CO2 emissions indicated by Tuesday's data was broadly in line with market expectations, albeit showing a slightly smaller annual increase than analysts' expectations of about a 0.5% rise in 2017 from the previous year.
Since some plant operators had not yet reported their figures as of Tuesday, the data provide only an indicator of the year-on-year trend in CO2 emissions by comparing plants that reported figures for both 2016 and 2017.
The EC's figures are published once a year and show underlying demand for EU Allowances, which plant operators must hand over to the EC to cover each mt of CO2 emitted on a yearly basis by a deadline of April 30.
EUA futures contract prices for December 2018 delivery on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London were volatile on Tuesday, moving in a range of Eur12.51/mt to Eur13.25/mt as participants digested the implications of the preliminary CO2 data.
