Installations covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme surrendered 254.6 million U.N.-backed offsets for compliance in 2011, nearly double the amount handed in last year, data released by the European Commission showed on Wednesday. The figures included 178.8 million Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) and 75.8 million Emissions Reduction Units (ERUs), carbon credits issued under the Kyoto Protocol.
The total number was 86 percent higher than the 137 million credits used by companies last year, but in line with analyst estimates.
"As a result, we don't see any big immediate price impact," said Marcus Ferdinand, an analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.
The December 2012 CER on ICE Futures Europe, the most liquid contract, was unfazed by news, trading down one percent at 3.82 euros by 1047 GMT.
The increased usage was partly due to an EU decision to ban from May 2013 companies from turning in credits derived from destroying industrial gases from HCFC-22 and adipic acid factories, offsets that account for around two-thirds of all credits issued, Ferdinand said. A huge increase the number of ERUs issued in the past year also contributed to a rise in the number used in 2011, he added.
A total 456.1 million CERs have now been surrendered under the EU ETS, or nearly half of the 919.4 million that have been issued to date by the U.N.
A further 99.2 million ERUs have been handed in by EU firms since 2008, the data showed, or 70 percent of the 141 million credits distributed so far, as estimated by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.
"This is an 86% y/y increase in the use of CERs and ERUs for compliance and takes the usage of the total level of offset import allowance to 50% of that available," said Trevor Sikorski at Barclays Capital. adding ... "The impact on prices should be minimal as this was in line with expectations and does not alter the supply/demand fundamentals in the market."