By JAMES KANTER
Published: February 22, 2012
BRUSSELS — During the past decade, the European Union blazed a green trail with a series of laws mandating a low-carbon economy and promises to set an example for other parts of the world.
That now seems like another era.
A succession of economic crises has pushed European governments to pare subsidies to clean-energy sectors like solar power and has undermined initiatives in other areas like energy efficiency, where member states balked at binding targets.
The E.U. Emissions Trading System — the Union’s flagship climate policy, which requires industries to acquire emissions permits — has been battered by extreme volatility, tax fraud, recycling of used credits, suspicions of profiteering and online attacks.
Many factories and utilities also received more free permits than they needed under the system, helping ensure that the price of the permits has never been high enough, for long enough, to push polluters to invest in cleaner alternatives.
The latest complication for Europe’s green agenda is the prospect of trade wars with important partners like the United States and China at a time when the Union can least afford threats to jobs and growth.
The most high-profile dispute focuses on a law requiring all airlines using airports within the Union to join the Emissions Trading System. About 30 governments met in Moscow this week to discuss barring their carriers from participating and other forms of retaliation.
There are other disputes brewing.
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