The data released by the London Stock Exchange Group in the UK capture a swinging year for the European ETS, which alone accounts for 87% of the total value of global carbon trading schemes. After the peak of the prices in February 2023, with beyond 100 euros to ton, at the end of the year the trend is in clear decrease with prices around the 60 euros
Global carbon markets grew 2% on average in 2022
Last year, the world’s carbon markets reached a record value of €881 billion, a leap of 2% compared to 2022. Record numbers were achieved despite a substantial parity of carbon credits traded in the 12 months, equivalent to about 12.5 billion tons of CO2. The increase in total trade volume was due to increases in credit prices in some markets, particularly in Europe and North America.
Carbon markets, record also for the European ETS
These are the data released by the London Stock Exchange Group in the report Carbon Market Year in Review 2023. Which focuses in particular on the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), the largest of the carbon markets. In 2023, its value reached 770 billion euros, which is 87% of the total global carbon market. Up 2% per year.
But the trend has diversified over the past 12 months. The price of carbon credits in the European ETS, in fact, broke 100 euros in February 2023, but in the last part of the year it was characterized by a decreasing trend, driven by weak demand from heavy industry and the energy sector.
“Economic growth is likely to remain slow in the short term across Europe and is expected to lead to further demand destruction by many of the industrial sectors covered by the EU ETS,” the report says. Indeed, the first 40 days of 2024 continued the trend, with the value of European carbon credit now falling below €60 per tonne of CO2.
The other carbon markets
Of opposite sign the 2023 of the British carbon market. The total value of the London scheme collapsed by 22%, with a volume of trade stopped at 36.4 billion euros and prices traveling on average around 65 euros per ton of CO2. That is 1/3 less than the average prices of 2022.
The other two main global ETS, the North American and the Chinese, have also marked record prices, like the EU. Across the Atlantic, carbon shares reached $39 per ton in the Western Climate Initiative and over $15 per ton in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The Beijing scheme, instead, stood at record levels last October, with shares traded at 80.51 yuan (11.19 dollars), for a total trade value of 2.3 billion euros.
