EU leaders clash over whether to gut the Emissions Trading System (ETS) or double down on it to escape fossil fuel dependence. Skeptics like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni are calling for an urgent suspension of carbon pricing to lower skyrocketing bills, while defenders argue that abandoning the climate tool now would be “purely populistic” and counterproductive. Amidst the fray, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is reminding member states that the ETS accounts for only 11% of the average energy bill, whereas the volatile cost of fossil fuels themselves does the real damage at 56%.
Date: March 13, 2026. Source: politico.eu