Thieves stole €30m of carbon allowances

Commission believes cyber-attacks in different member states were co-ordinated.

● Hackers force closure of emissions trading scheme

The European Commission today said that it believes carbon allowances worth almost €30 million have been stolen from the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).

A spokeswoman for Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, said two million allowances were sold for €14 each by thieves who hacked into accounts on national ETS registries.

As the market regulator for the ETS, the Commission announced on Wednesday (19 January) that it had suspended most trading within the EU’s 30 registries for greenhouse-gas emissions until 26 January. The decision was taken after a Czech account holder found his account had been hacked and that €7 million of allowances had gone missing.

Commission officials believe attacks on registries in Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece and Poland, which occurred over the past five days, were co-ordinated.

The spokeswoman said experts on the EU’s climate change committee were meeting today to review ETS security measures. She said the Commission had identified 14 member states that had to upgrade the security standards on their national registries. “We expect member states to come up with more information and details on what they are going to do,” the spokeswoman said.

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), which represents business groups and companies involved in emissions trading around the world, called for the EU to come up with a quick resolution to the security problem.

“The main registries should be put online as fast as possible,” said Simone Ruiz from IETA’s Brussels office.

Ruiz said the other national registries should come back online once security upgrades have been made. She said EU countries with particular problems should complete the security upgrades before March, when the next big sale of allowances is planned.

The IETA has sent a letter to the Commission offering its support with security problems, Ruiz said.

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