How the EU carbon market works

What the dashboard shows, where the numbers come from, how current they are, and what they can’t tell you.

The short answer

Since 2005 the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has required power stations, factories, airlines flying within Europe and, since 2024, large ships to hold an allowance for every tonne of CO₂ they emit. The total number of allowances, the cap, shrinks every year, so emissions must fall; companies that cut emissions cheaply can sell spare allowances to those that can’t. Most allowances are sold at auction. This dashboard shows the price from every auction since 2020, where the money goes, and the facts the European Commission publishes about the cap, emissions and the new carbon price on imports.

How we know

The price. EEX, the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig, runs the auctions for the countries in the system (the EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and the EU funds several times a week and publishes each result: the clearing price, how many allowances were sold, how many were bid for, how many companies bid and how much revenue went to each recipient. We read EEX’s results file every night. The auction price follows the price on the exchange closely; continuous exchange prices are only available for a fee.

The cap and the surplus. The European Commission sets the cap: 1,386 million allowances in 2024, falling by 4.3% a year in 2024–2027 and 4.4% from 2028, to cut emissions in the covered sectors 62% below 2005 by 2030. Every year it counts the allowances in circulation; when there are too many, the Market Stability Reserve takes some off the market (190 million from September 2026 to August 2027).

Emissions. Companies report their verified emissions each spring. For 2025 the Commission reported a 1.3% fall from 2024, with emissions in the covered sectors halved since 2005.

CBAM. Since 1 January 2026, importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen must buy and surrender certificates for the emissions embedded in those goods, after a reporting-only phase in 2023–2025.

How current each part is

Auction prices and revenue: several auctions a week; we read the results every night.
Cap, surplus and emissions: published by the Commission once a year; checked 26 October 2026.

What the dashboard can’t tell you

It is not investment advice, and it does not show the futures prices traders use. The history starts in 2020 because EEX’s older results are in an older file format.

It covers the original EU ETS. A second system (ETS2) for fuels used in buildings and road transport is due to start later, and farming is covered by neither.

Credits

Auction results from EEX (European Energy Exchange); cap, emissions, reserve and CBAM facts from the European Commission. We only download and present their public data.