Swiss seek to join EU carbon trading system

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland wants to join the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and hopes to start formal talks to that end after a climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December, the government said on Friday.

Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss transport and energy minister, told EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas at a meeting in Sweden the Swiss government wanted to bind the country's own emissions trading system with that of the EU.

"The advantage of that is that it would significantly expand the emissions trading market for Switzerland and expand the flexibility of Swiss firms to buy and sell emissions certificates," his ministry said in a statement.

The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme puts a price on carbon dioxide and forces companies to pay for permits for each metric ton of CO2 they emit into the atmosphere.

Leuenberger agreed to pursue technical talks between EU and Swiss experts initiated in 2005 and said formal negotiations to agree a deal could be started after the Copenhagen conference.

The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty limiting greenhouse gases is due to be renewed in global talks culminating at the Copenhagen conference.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson)