WARSAW, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Poland’s energy minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski asked the European Commission on Monday to intervene on the carbon permits market due to surging CO2 prices, the ministry said. Carbon permits traded under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) have become the commodity showing the biggest price rise this year, leading to a significant increase in production costs for Polish utilities, which generate most of their power using polluting coal. “A stable functioning of the ETS market has a significant importance for Polish energy sector, which is based on coal to a big extent,” Tchorzewski said in a statement. “We expect the Commission to take decisive steps.” The minister said this month that the Commission has a number of tools it can use to intervene, including releasing extra permits. Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko, editing by Ed Osmond
Poland's government has urged the European Commission to intervene because the rising price of carbon permits traded under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) are putting financial pressure on the country's coal-reliant utilities. The Polish energy ministry said in a statement that it was "seriously concerned" about the impact of the ETS and would be looking into whether Poland could benefit from it.