European Union environment ministers have unanimously agreed to set up a market to trade emissions permits for carbon dioxide (CO2), the main climate change gas.

This agreement is very important for DNV as it opens up for new certification business opportunities when the protocol finally gets ratified and the directive comes into force. DNV Certification is already in contact with several major European companies regarding their efforts to reduce emissions, says head of DNV Certification Henrik Madsen.

Once approved by the European Parliament, the scheme will cap the amount of CO2 that key industries can produce and will allow companies to buy and sell emission rights within a 15-nation bloc, according to BBC News yesterday.

The quota system will allow enterprises in Europe to reduce emissions in the most cost effective manner, said Danish Environment Minister Hans Christian Schmidt after the EU meeting in Copenhagen where the agreement was settled.

It is good for the environment, it is good for enterprises and it is good for the economy," he added.

Companies within the energy, steel, cement, glass, brick-making, and paper and cardboard industries will from the start of 2005 be able to buy and sell emission quotas.

Further key issues covered by the agreement are the limitation to only one greenhouse gas - CO2 - and the definition of a penalty for companies that do not have their quotas in place by 2008. It also opens up for a voluntary pool arrangement.

Kyoto Protocol almost there
Both New Zealand and Canada yesterday ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Once Russia ratifies it, the protocol will have been ratified by 55 nations and will cover at least 55 per cent of the emissions from industrialised countries, which are the conditions for the protocol to be valid.

Russia is expected to ratify the protocol this spring, says DNVs Trygve Røed-Larsen who leads DNVs climate change service development.