Europe will partially reopen its carbon credit market tomorrow after its anti-global warming tool was shut down last month when hackers stole millions of euros worth of polluting rights from the system.
Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia were cleared to reopen their national registries after giving "reasonable assurances that the minimum security requirements are in place," the European Commission said Thursday.
This means that the market, suspended on January 19, remains closed in the European Union's 22 other member states.
Trading was frozen after computer hackers stole two million certificates from the registries of five countries: Austria, Estonia, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland. The thieves then sold millions of euros worth of credits.
The European Union Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is the largest multi-national, greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world, with about 12,000 companies on the exchange.
Limits are placed on the amount of carbon dioxide companies may emit, and those who pollute less are free to sell them to companies that need more.
The system has frequently been attacked, with another halt ordered in trading in numerous countries last year after "phishing" emails tricked users into divulging their passwords and a VAT scam in 2008 and 2009 netting criminals five million euros.
