Poland will get free CO2 emission permits

Poland will receive free CO2 emission permits from 2013, while most countries in western Europe will be forced to pay if they want to release fumes that could damage air quality.

The nation is set to get 53 per cent of its allowances for nothing, a document obtained by Reuters has suggested.

This essentially means Poland can produce 78 million tonnes of the gas for no charge, although this will fall to 32 million tonnes by 2019. From 2020, the country will have to pay for all of its permits.

Such concessions have been made for some eastern European countries, as many of their economies are reliant on fossil fuels like coal, so a phased approach to the new environmental legislation was deemed the best way to go.

At first, Poland had been granted permission to receive 70 per cent of its permits for free, but this has since been scaled down.

A number of US and Middle East-based airlines have attacked the plans to charge for CO2 emissions, claiming their profits will be hit hard.

Posted by Claire Manning