Carbon price hit a high last week. The EU emissions trading system which allows parties to buy and sell carbon saw the price reach €88.88/t on 8 December.

On 13 December, that price had dropped back to €82.12/t and to €79.48/t on 14 December.

The peak December 2021 futures price of €88.88/t is 2.6 times higher than the price on 4 January.

Prices have been rising steadily throughout the year.

The December 2021 futures price allows the buyer of one credit to emit one tonne of carbon equivalents – carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Plans to allow EU farmers to trade carbon

This week, the EU announced that it has plans to standardise the monitoring, reporting and verification methods needed to trade carbon on voluntary carbon markets.

The European Commission plans to propose an EU regulatory framework in order to certify carbon removals by the end of 2022. The Commission will call for evidence in January 2022.

The announcement came when the communication on sustainable carbon cycles was adopted on Wednesday 15 December. The plan aims to see 42 million tonnes of CO2-e stored by 2030 under carbon farming initiatives.

Aside from carbon farming, the EU aims to increase carbon removals through the initiatives in CAP and other EU projects.

French payments

In contrast to the prices listed above, speakers on a Teagasc Signpost webinar this week stated that farmers in France were being paid €38/t for carbon and received €30/t of this into their own pockets, while €5/t goes to the agricultural adviser and €3/t goes to the trading facilitator.

It was estimated that this equated to €9,000 to €15,000 per farm over a five-year period.