CET Iasi Sells 5 Mio EUR In Emission Certificates

CET - Iasi, a heating plant in the Moldavian city of Iasi, has managed to sell some 350,000 greenhouse gas emission certificates on the London Exchange to several foreign companies whose overall emissions have exceeded the limit imposed by the European Union. A certificate sold for approximately 14 EUR.

The 350,000 certificates were issued to CET-Iasi in 2006 and 2007 via the National Registry and within the limitations of the National Plan for the Allocation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Certificates.

"We received a certain number of such certificates, according to the production indicators at that time. Later on, we made important investments in retooling, so we managed to achieve an important cut in greenhouse gas emissions. So we sold the remaining certificates. This is actually a premiere for Romania. It is for the first time that such certificates are sold on the European market directly, without any intermediaries," said CET-Iasi CEO Didi Melinte.

Unfortunately, Romanian companies holding such certificates have lost significant amounts of money because the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry became operational only on 29 December 2008. For example, in August 2008, such certificate sold on the London Exchange for 28 euros, and now the price is half as much, Melinte added.

He did not specify how many such certificates the company had left, but mentioned that another batch could be put up for sale as soon as the authorities disbursed it. CET-Iasi will use the proceeds to pay for the fuel required by the thermal plant. The money would be enough to cover one third of the bill for crude oil and coal.