“The launch date will be as near to the start of January as possible,” Stefan Niessen, EEX spokesperson told Energy Risk on the sidelines of an emissions trading conference in London.

The launch date coincides with the European Union Emissions Trading directive which comes in to force on January 1 2005, and places an obligation on heavy polluters to meet certain carbon limits.

Under the cap and trade programme, polluters such as power companies, have the amount of greenhouse gases they can