EU leaders meeting in Brussels on 15–16 October 2026 did not change the ETS2 timetable. The European Council asked the Commission to update its assessment of the system’s impacts, in particular its design and safeguards. Pump and gas prices were not reset by that conclusion; any rise from 2028 remains a risk, not a price decision.

ETS2 is separate from the industrial ETS. It covers emissions from fuels used in buildings and road transport: suppliers buy allowances, and the cost may later show up in petrol, diesel and gas prices. Operation has already been moved once, from 2027 to 2028, by a 2026 regulation.

President Nicușor Dan said after the summit that Romania wanted a fresh discussion and, if the system is applied, a date “as distant as possible”, citing the energy crisis. He recalled that Romania and other states had asked for a delay last autumn and that, after talks with the Commission, the date became 2028. Revenues, he said, should go to cleaner-energy investment. On household bills, he called for measures in the 2028–2034 EU budget.

Climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said on 12 October, after the Environment Council in Luxembourg, that the Commission was not preparing another delay. First ETS2 allowance auctions are scheduled for January 2027 as an advance sale, before the system is fully operational in 2028. Hoekstra’s remarks are not a new law; the regulation in force still points to 2028.

The European Council conclusions also call for a predictable industrial ETS, protection against carbon leakage and mitigation of the impact on electricity prices, while keeping a market-based carbon price signal. The public text does not give a single figure for a Romanian pump-price increase.

This article describes an EU mechanism under debate; it is not financial advice and does not announce a pump price.

Image: Olnnu, Europa building, Brussels, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; European Council seat, not a photograph of the 15–16 October 2026 meeting.

Sources consulted: Nicușor Dan vrea o nouă discuție despre ETS2, pe fondul crizei energetice — Digi24; European Council, 15-16 October 2026 — Consilium.