Various news sources are reporting that Ireland’s top three cement firms have secured an estimated €128 million in profit windfall off the sale of surplus carbon credits.
According to a new study, CRH, Lagan Cement and Quinn Cement have acquired massive cash piles from an EU emissions ‘cap-and-trade’ scheme.
From 2008 to 2014, CRH received approximately €95 million, whilst Quinn secured €21 million and Lagan netted €11 million in profits from selling over-allocated carbon credits granted by the Irish Government.
Figures emerged in a research report on the EU’s emissions trading system (EU ETS).
Over-allocation was highest in the cement sector, which takes more than 40% of Irish EU ETS credits, and the EU is in the line of fire to reform said scheme.
According to reports, Irish companies had huge gains from carbon credit trading when there was a time of lower productivity, even as greenhouse gas emissions from the cement sector rose by 31% in 2014.
Edited from sources by Joseph Green. Sources: Independent, Big News Network