The EU’s emissions trading scheme has so far failed to deliver any reductions in CO2 emissions while at the same time strangling energy-efficiency investment in the electricity sector, according to a former European Commission official. Jørgen Henningsen, a senior adviser at the European Policy Centre, argued that the Commission had based its climate policy overwhelmingly on the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, which is not delivering on its original purpose of cutting emissions cost-effectively. “The Commission has clearly been over-optimistic about the contribution of emissions trading to CO2 reductions. So far, the system has hardly delivered anything and the low CO2 prices at present support the fear that not only the present trading period, but also the 2013-20 period, will be a failure,” Henningsen said.