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FRANKFURT, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Making power companies pay for the carbon dioxide (CO2) they emit would mark the end of fair competition in Europe’s energy sector, RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann told the Financial Times newspaper.
“Companies such as ours that… rely on coal-fired power generation will find themselves at a distinct disadvantage vis-a-vis companies like EDF, which are based mainly on nuclear and have virtually no CO2 costs,” he said in remarks published on Monday.
He was referring to French state-controlled EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which he said could be handed a 40 billion euros ($50.76 billion) gift this week if the European Union presses ahead with plans for full auctioning of carbon permits for utilities.
The European Union plans to finalise the world’s most ambitious measures to combat global warming by the end of this year, but differences among members remain over proposals to make all EU power stations pay for carbon permits from 2013.
Several EU nations, including Germany and Italy, fear the added cost of paying for permits to emit carbon will drive up costs for industries such as steel and aluminium, forcing them to relocate to less regulated countries. ($1=.7880 euros)
Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Mike Nesbit
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