Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the median cost of carbon in the (a) UK and (b) EU.

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU Emissions Trading System are the main carbon pricing initiatives in the UK and EU respectively. Their traded units are UK Allowances and EU Allowances – both equate to 1 tCO2e. Benchmark prices for each scheme are the front December Futures contracts (currently December 2023) traded on the Intercontinental Exchange.

The median End-of-Day settlement price of UK Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £68.18.

The median End-of-Day settlement price of EU Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £77.92/€89.32.