Ostrava: The ETS2 carbon market stayed on course for a 2028 start after EU leaders argued over it for hours at their summit on 15 and 16 October 2026. The conclusions, which emerged in the early hours of 16 October, asked the Commission to update its assessment of all impacts of ETS2, in particular its design and safeguards. They set no deadline and did not mention a further postponement.

The new system will put a price on emissions from buildings and road transport. Lawmakers already moved its start by one year, to 2028, through an amendment to the European Climate Law adopted in March 2026. Several governments wanted more. Italy asked for 2030, and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Greece also pressed for postponement, while Estonia wanted the ETS2 carbon market scrapped.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that anyone who wants ETS2 will lose elections. Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides called the wording satisfactory and said the Commission has grasped the need for a further delay, but that reading is his own and not in the text. Cyprus Mail counts seven states backing suspension.

The opposing camp was also loud. Finland, Sweden and Denmark opposed any weakening of the wider emissions trading system, and their prime ministers, Petteri Orpo, Mette Frederiksen and Ulf Kristersson, wrote to European Council President António Costa to say so. Germany, Spain, France, Portugal and the Netherlands backed them, according to a Parliament research briefing.

The practical message for households and firms is uncertainty. Heating oil and gas suppliers, fuel distributors and landlords all need clarity on prices before the ETS2 carbon market begins, and the summit gave them none. Governments that opposed delay say investors need a stable date, while governments that wanted delay say voters will not accept higher bills for petrol and heating.

Leaders also asked lawmakers to speed up work on the Market Stability Reserve, the mechanism that releases allowances to curb price spikes. Italy and Czechia had sent the Commission a joint paper on 30 September proposing to reduce or suspend withdrawals of about 190 million allowances. Reports describe a price safeguard of €45 per tonne in 2020 prices, though sources disagree on how far the legislative changes have advanced.

The next step belongs to the Commission. Any change to the ETS2 carbon market must pass through the normal legislative process, and no date exists yet for the updated assessment. Until a proposal appears, the 2028 start date stands, and businesses that supply heating and transport fuel must keep preparing for the ETS2 carbon market while governments keep fighting over its price.