According to insulation manufacturers, it is unnecessary to give ČEZ permits for free

Prague - Three associations representing companies in the field of production and installation of building insulation today turned to lawmakers with a call to abolish part of the law that last year transferred a package of carbon emission allowances worth approximately 70 billion crowns to energy companies. According to them, the money should go into savings, not for "further increasing the profits of energy companies." The call was published on the day when ČEZ announced that it had increased its net profit by 9.5 percent to 51.9 billion crowns last year. This is the highest profit in the company's history and also the highest profit of any domestic company.
    Giving emission allowances for free to energy companies, according to the spokesperson for the initiative, backed by the Association of Manufacturers of Mineral Insulation, the Guild for Insulating Buildings, and the EPS Association of the Czech Republic, Svatopluk Bartík, will bring another increase in their profits, but nothing positive for citizens. "For the state, it means a loss of the opportunity for rational use of an astronomical amount of funds. We also lose the opportunity to support the reduction of energy intensity in buildings and industry," he told ČTK.
    The chairman of the Association of Manufacturers of Mineral Insulation, Libor Urbášek, who initiated the call, believes that last year's decision by lawmakers is both ecologically and economically inefficient and discriminatory. "In order to have a rational discussion about the best possible use of the revenue from allowances, it is first necessary to abolish this part of the legislation. We still have plenty of time for discussion and to adopt a reasonable and fair law,” he stated.
    According to Bartík, members of parliament will have the opportunity to repeal the amendment, which incorporated provisions on the handling of allowances into the excise duty law, during the discussion of proposed amendments to the emissions trading law in March.
    The revenues from the sale of emissions credits amounting to 17 billion crowns are now being used by the Ministry of the Environment to finance the insulation of houses and the replacement of boilers with cleaner sources of heat for households. The Green Savings program is expected to operate until 2012.
    According to the amendment to the law on excise duties, which the parliament approved last year along with the amendment, energy companies, in exchange for free allowances, will have to invest part of the funds into modernizing electricity production. The proposal for part of the emission allowances to be free was included during the discussion in parliament. It was raised by the chairman of the Economic Committee, Oldřich Vojíř, former Minister of Industry Martin Říman (both ODS), and shadow Minister of Industry of the ČSSD, Milan Urban. Representatives of environmental organizations primarily protested against their proposals.

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