(Reuters) – Carbon dioxide emissions covered by Britain’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2022, were 110.6 million tonnes, up 2.7 million tonnes from the previous year, the UK ETS Authority said late on Thursday.
“This change was largely driven by a substantial increase in UK ETS aviation emissions, consistent with a rebound in aviation activity following the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authority said in a statement.
The UK ETS – a scheme to incentivise big polluters to cut emissions by forcing them to buy permits to release CO2 – replaced the UK’s participation in the European Union’s ETS on Jan. 1, 2021.
It applies to energy intensive industries, the power generation sector and aviation. The first phase of the UK ETS will run until 2030.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
