Dóra Fazekas Carbon Market Implications for new EU - UniCredit ...

In an EU-context, Hungary held its own in this rapidly developed carbon dioxide market. Ellerman
and Trotignon (2008), in their presentation, defined five groups within the EU emissions allowance
market as far as international transactions were concerned (see figure 40). They examined the
number of Member States a country enters into transactions with, and then used the numbers
obtained to place each country in the 25 by 25 matrix reproduced below 41 . Theoretically, the
maximum number should be 24, but Malta did not engage in trading with any Member States.
Countries that did not engage in trading are positioned close to zero. Malta neither sold nor
purchased emissions allowances. Cyprus and Luxemburg, although they sold emissions allowances
to eight and nine countries, respectively, had no companies purchasing allowances from other
states. Greece is also in a group of its own: Ellerman and Trotignon called it “undecided,” although
the term “neutral” may also fit, since they purchased allowances from roughly half of all Member
States and sold allowances to approximately the same number. Two smaller groups are positioned
in the corners of the matrix, these are the small exporters and the small importers. Slovenia and
Ireland purchased allowances from many other countries, but sold to few. Lithuania and Estonia
sold to many, but purchased from few. The fifth, and biggest, group includes Hungary and may be
called the group of “active traders,” who entered into transactions with many other Member States.
This cluster, which includes seventeen countries, traded with at least ten or fifteen countries,
involving both selling and purchasing. Most of the countries in this group belong to the EU15, but
five eastern Member States – Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia and Hungary – are also
found here.
41 Romania and Bulgaria are not listed in the matrix, as their transaction registries did not go online prior to
the end of the pilot phase.
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