EU Commission to Issue More Free CO2 Permits, €4 Billion Extra Allocation
The European Commission will issue more free CO2 permits, leading to an additional «€4 billion» in allocation, after Italy and Germany pushed to relax the ETS benchmark. This decision allows polluting industries more flexibility. Other news includes a push for renewables, a data breach complaint against PimEyes, and sluggish eurozone growth.
The European Commission will issue more free CO2 permits than initially planned, a document obtained by Euractiv shows. This relaxation follows lobbying from Italy and Germany to soften the ETS benchmark, which sets the world’s highest carbon price and would have reduced free permits.
This new approach will result in «€4 billion more in free allocation». German MEP Peter Liese (EPP) welcomed the Commission’s efforts to provide more free certificates.
Separately, the UN climate change official highlighted renewables as safer, cheaper energy, with the Iran war making their economic logic undeniable. A privacy group filed a complaint against Hamburg authorities for inaction regarding alleged data breaches by facial recognition search engine PimEyes. The eurozone economy grew less than expected in Q1 2026, at 0.1% compared to 0.2% in Q4 2025.
Donald Trump stated the US is reviewing a possible troop reduction in Germany. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Kyiv would seek details from Washington on a Kremlin offer for a May 9 ceasefire. The head of the UN Development Programme warned the US-Israeli war on Iran could push over 30 million people into poverty due to soaring energy and fertilizer prices.