Portugal supported 100 percent auctioning of carbon emissions permits to its power sector in the third trading cycle of Europe's emissions trading scheme from 2013, a senior Portuguese official said on Thursday.
The European Union's carbon trading scheme allocates emissions permits to heavy industrial sectors such as metals, paper and power generators, and is the bloc's main weapon against climate change.
Until 2012 power generators will get most permits for free, but they are passing this cost on to electricity consumers anyway, handing themselves windfall profits worth some 20 billion euros ($29.43 billion) annually, analysts say.
Portugal on Thursday advocated 100 percent auctioning to the power sector from 2013, a move which would wipe out such profits....MORE
