The price of emitting carbon in the EU is at an all-time high. For years, the EU's Emission Trading System, ETS, has been described as a "fiasco" and as "bloated", but in recent months and weeks, the system has shown a whole different gravitas.

On Friday, the price of emitting a ton of carbon came to USD 42, the highest price since the ETS was established in 2005. Since October last year alone, the price of the quotas has grown by 51 percent, after the EU countries at that time increase the union's joint emission reduction target, which nows stands at "minimum 55 percent."