Following cyber thefts in several countries and loss of carbon accounts, the European Union had shut down trading in emission certificates. Recently, the last of the bloc’s national carbon registries resumed operations. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, said that Lithuania’s registry reopened for carbon trading.

The European Commission on January 19 had suspended all spot trading in emissions certificates after thieves hacked into accounts in five national registries and stole some two million allowances valued at about €30 million. The Commission had asked the countries to secure the registries, before readmitting them. The cyber raids revealed massive security holes in some registries and showed how the fragmentation of the carbon market made it almost impossible to track down the stolen certificates or decide who owned them after they were found.