Carbon emissions from power plants and factories covered by the EU Emissions Trading 

System rose 0.5% to 1,757.3 million mt in 2017, according to a poll of six market analysts

by S&P Global Platts. 

It was the first time since 2011 that emissions were estimated to have risen, after industrial 

production slumped in the wake of the financial crisis of 2009-10. 

The  increase  was  attributed to gains in industrial output across the 28-nation bloc, while 

greenhouse  gas  emissions  from  power  plants were expected to drop, despite extended 

outages at French nuclear units and poor hydro generation in southern Europe. 

The European Commission will publish preliminary data on verified emissions for 2017 on A

pril  3,  which  will  be used to establish compliance levels for more than 12,000 installations 

participating in the bloc's cap-and-trade system. 

"We forecast a 15 million mt (0.5%) increase for 2017, hence emissions will be 1,762 million 

mt," said Espen Andreassen of Wattsight, an energy market consultancy. 

"We expect the power and heat sector's emissions to have decreased by approximately 3 

million mt year on year, even as power consumption in eastern Europe grew strongly. This 

was,  however,  offset  by  a  strong  increase  in  wind  power,  and a marginal increase in 

photovoltaic power." 

Wattsight forecast industrial emissions rose in two of the three largest sectors: steel by 7 

million mt and cement by 6 million mt, with petroleum refining experiencing a decrease of 1 

million mt.