We found no signs of manipulation in the EU carbon market

 

 The European Commission has found no signs of market manipulation in European carbon quotas (ETS), whose rising prices have had a significant impact on the increase in natural gas and the overall development of the energy crisis in the European Union. This was stated by the representative of the European Commission Tim McPhee at a briefing in Brussels, reports TACC.

 "The European Commission has found no signs of non-market manipulation of the EU's carbon market," he said. The EC spokesman also noted that the mere participation in the market of "banks, investment funds and other structures, whose activities are usually associated with financial speculation, is not yet evidence or evidence of the existence of market speculation."

"Banks and investment funds provide liquidity to the market. The European carbon market is a securities market and is subject to regulation on the financial markets. "We looked for examples of artificial price volatility and did not find any," he said.

 McPhee added that the EU did not see any point in revising the carbon trading system, "which stimulates the transition to clean energy and helps replenish budgets" of the European Union and its member states.

Earlier, Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said that the rise in ETS prices has provided up to 20% increase in gas prices in Europe since the beginning of autumn 2021.

On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki published an article on the Brussels-based internet portal Euractiv, calling for a complete overhaul of the carbon trading system.

 In his view, the rise in ETS prices is spiraling out of control and hitting the budgets of ordinary citizens, threatening to undermine people's financial stability and citizens' confidence in the European Union's climate policy as a whole. Morawiecki criticized the approach of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said rising energy prices were contributing to the EU's transition to "green energy sources".

 According to the Polish Prime Minister, the rise in carbon prices, which translates into rising energy prices, which in turn is passed on to consumers, destroys the principle of a fair transition to a green economy and only contributes to the expansion of speculative play in the ETS market.

Moravetsky stressed that a bubble has already formed in the carbon market, which can only be eliminated by urgent reform of the entire system and the adoption of new regulatory measures.