Overview

EUA prices rose higher through the week, extending a recovery from the low-€80s. The benchmark Dec-26 contract opened Monday at €82.78, dipped to a weekly low of €81.86, then built a string of higher closes before easing to €83.53 on Thursday. EUAs added a further 0.8% Friday on short-covering as recent short positioning changed to support around €83, leaving the week up roughly 1.7–1.8% overall. Market participants described a "back to school" pickup in trading volumes after the summer lull.

Energy markets provided a supportive but choppy backdrop. Dutch TTF gas rallied hard early in the week (+4.2% Mon, +3.5% Tue, +2.0% Wed) on tight European storage, Norwegian outages and heat-reduced hydro/nuclear output, before correcting a touch to end the week up ~2.8%. On the regulatory side, Germany was reported to oppose the European Commission's proposal to weaken the ETS Market Stability Reserve (MSR), instead pushing for the reserve's invalidation mechanism to be suspended only through 2030 rather than the broader dilution Brussels has floated — a live swing factor ahead of a scheduled EU Parliament vote on the ETS overhaul in December.