A proposal to govern post-2020 EU ETS reforms might not be ready before August as initially planned, according to Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, Reuters reported Thursday.

Arias Canete said the complexity of the carbon market reforms could delay publication.

The Commission has been saying for months that the review would come before its summer break, so a delay would mean it would be at least September before its proposal is published.

The review will govern post-2020 rules such as deepening the annual ETS cap reduction to 2.2% from the current 1.74% rate, as well as determining rules for allocating free allowances to industries deemed vulnerable to carbon leakage.

It was also due to contain proposals on whether to use unallocated allowances destined to enter the MSR in 2020 for additional carbon leakage measures.

Mark Lewis, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, said earlier this month that gains in EUA prices would likely be capped until the Commission gave its proposal on the ultimate fate of the unallocated allowances.

The ETS review proposal would still need to be agreed by EU lawmakers in a process that could take at least two years.

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