European carbon emission futures prices hit record highs.
As of 17:25 Beijing time on February 3, the highest price of European carbon emission futures rose to 94.94 euros / ton. Since this year, the futures has increased by more than 17%, continuing the continuous upward trend since 2021.
Industry analysts pointed out that the European carbon trading market continued to be hot, mainly due to the tight supply of natural gas in Europe and the low temperature this winter. In winter, the main heating period in Europe is coming (generally from October to the end of March), and the market supply is becoming tighter. According to the data of the European Natural Gas Infrastructure Association, at the beginning of 2022, the inventory volume in Europe was only 56%, compared with 73% 12 months ago.
Since 2021, European natural gas prices have risen by more than 600%. Rising natural gas prices have pushed up electricity and heating prices, adding to the shortage of renewable energy power generation, forcing the demand for coal power generation to rise.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the energy crisis in 2021 hit the European natural gas market, the benchmark natural gas price tripled, and European utility companies had to turn to coal for power generation.
Mark Lewis, head of climate research at large energy hedge fund andurand capital, said that the current price of natural gas power generation in Europe is more than 10 euros per megawatt hour. Only when the EU carbon price reaches 105 euros / ton, natural gas will be more competitive than coal.
The rise of carbon emission trading price means that the carbon emission cost of enterprises is getting higher and higher, which will increase the cost of using fossil energy, indirectly promote the development of clean energy and improve the economy of clean energy.
Bjarne schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at the Swedish North European bank, said that the carbon price could even reach 200 euros / ton in the next few years.
