A draft plan of the Commission , sent to member states the last week of the new year , sets out the rules on allocating the 300 million allowances of the  ‘new entrants reserve’ of the EU ETS to CCS and renewable projects. At a carbon price of €20 a tonne, the revenue would amount to about €6 billion, the EU executive estimates. Todays carbon proices are around € 12. The draft proposes to award the allowances through two rounds of calls for proposals: in the first call mature projects, like CCS according to the commission, could receive funding.  The  impact assessment accompanying the draft argues that in the case of renewables, it would be “preferable” to wait until the second call to allow for a “maximum number of technologies to come to maturity”. However, the draft stresses that there should be a balance between CCS and renewable energy projects. It lists the technologies eligible to receive funding for at least one project in order to ensure that only technologies that are not yet commercially viable but ready for large-scale demonstration qualify. Each member state will be able submit two projects. The draft text requires member states to co-finance the projects by matching the EU ETS investment. They should therefore have the opportunity to decide which projects they will support in their territory, the Commission says, while reserving its right to make the final selection.Countries will send their proposals to the European Investment Bank (EIB), which assesses the financial and technical viability of the projects before making recommendations to the Commission. Member states are scheduled to vote on the text in February.