The UK should set a carbon price of £42 (€58, $65) in 2015 and £78 in 2030 to keep on track to meet its long term emission goals, the government’s advisory Committee on Climate Change said in a report on Thursday.
The UK has legally-binding five-year carbon targets out to 2027 to help meet a 2050 target to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 80% under 1990 levels.
The price guidance is well above analyst projections of EU carbon prices of £24 in 2030.
To top up to those levels, the UK has since 2013 charged a carbon price floor fee to thermal generators intended to top up prices to gradually reach £30 by 2020.
But the government this year froze the annual rises in the floor at £18 per tonne of CO2.
By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com
