LONDON -More than a million carbon permits were not sold at a UK auction last week and their sale will now be spread out across the next four auctions, the UK's Emissions Trading System (UK ETS) Authority said.
This was the first time that a UK ETS auction has had unsold permits with the 10 previous auctions having fully cleared.
The auction of 5,187,500 carbon allowances was held on Oct. 6. Bids below 60 pounds per tonne were deemed below the prevailing secondary market price and were unsuccessful. Some 1,038,500 carbon allowances were unsold.
At each of three auctions on Oct. 20, Nov. 17 and Dec. 1, a total of 5,447,500 allowances will now come up for sale. An auction on Nov. 3 will see 5,447,000 allowances on the block.
The UK ETS Authority also said in its statement that it aims to publish the 2022 auction calendar this autumn. It expects around 80 million carbon allowances will be available for auction next year.
The ETS is a method of charging power plants and other industrial entities for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.
Britain launched its own market to replace the European Union's ETS after it left the bloc and holds permit auctions on ICE every two weeks.