Power generators and other energy-intensive businesses will begin lobbying hard for the government to maintain looser limits on emissions from businesses under the European Union's greenhouse gas trading scheme, with the publication yesterday of guidelines showing how allowances should be calculated.

Atle Christiansen, director at Point Carbon, a carbon trading analyst company, said: "There will be a lot of noise, a lot of intensive lobbying from business. The guidelines are very detailed, which should make the whole process much more transparent than it was in the first phase."