Andres Sutt: ETS2 fuel quota system will be implemented as the EU decided

The EU's new carbon quota trading system ETS2, which affects petrol and diesel fuel prices, will be implemented in 2025 in the form adopted. Estonia's wishes were not taken into account and it remains unclear whether Estonia even fought for its objectives. Riigikogu member Andres Sutt points out that Estonia's voice was not essentially heard in negotiations.

Andres Sutt, Reform Party member and Riigikogu representative, warns that the EU's new carbon quota trading system, known by the acronym ETS2, will come in the form it was fixed in 2025, regardless of what Estonia would have wanted to see differently.

What does ETS2 mean?

ETS2 is an extension of the EU's emissions trading system for carbon quotas, which will now differently encompass transport sector fuels, in particular petrol and diesel. This means that fuel producers and importers must buy quotas for every tonne of CO2 that their product releases when burned. In practice, this cost is very likely to be passed on to the end user-that is, to fuel prices.

Critics have emphasised that low-income households and residents of rural areas, who lack access to public transport, bear the burden of this reform disproportionately. In Estonia's context, this is particularly important, given the country's dispersed settlement pattern and high dependence on cars.

Estonia's voice went unheard

Sutt points out that although negotiations formally continued even in 2026, Estonia's positions were not taken into account. Even more concerning, he says, is that it remains unclear whether the Estonian delegation actively fought for its interests. Estonia is a relatively small member state and without coordinated allied support, the country's influence in the EU decision-making process is inevitably limited.

Such a situation raises the question of how Estonia should better protect its positions in Brussels in the future, particularly in the field of energy policy, which directly affects every citizen's wallet.