European Union carbon allowances rose to the highest level in almost nine months as nations in the bloc consider reforming the market to reduce a surplus sooner than proposed by its regulator. Permits for December climbed to the highest price since March 3 on ICE Futures Europe in London. Volume in the contract so far this week is up 6.5 percent from last week’s initial three sessions. The European Parliament’s industry committee plans a discussion for Dec. 4 on a proposed reserve of permits to mop up an oversupply of the contracts, according to an agenda obtained by Bloomberg News. The EU emission market is the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas program by traded volume. Prices climbed as nations and lawmakers voiced support for the measure. “There is a relevant group of states including Italy, Germany, France and the U.K. actively pushing for, or that have at least endorsed, an early adoption” of the reserve as soon as 2017 instead of the 2021 planned by the European Commission, said Paolo Coghe, an analyst at Societe Generale SA in Paris. “It leads us to believe there is a strong consensus for the market stability reserve,” he said yesterday in a research note. EU carbon permits for December rose as much as 1.3 percent to 7.21 euros ($8.99) a metric ton on ICE. The contract traded at 7.18 euros at 4:59 p.m., up 45 percent this year. Utility Demand The bloc’s decision to adopt a 40 percent emissions-reduction target in 2030 compared with 1990 also helped to lift prices, along with higher demand from utilities as winter sets in, according to Coghe. Buying and selling of carbon call options, or contracts giving the right to buy, jumped to a nine-month high last week, according to ICE data. Options trading “confirms that speculative money was indeed positioning for a meaningful progression in EU allowance prices during the last part of the year and in concurrence with regulatory milestones,” Societe Generale’s Coghe said. It’s too early to be confident that lawmakers will install the strongest possible market reserve, which would drive permit prices above 9.99 euros a ton, he said. The premium for December 2016 permits to the December 2014 contract expanded 7.7 percent to 28 euro cents a ton on ICE. That would be the widest reading since Sept. 11 if the spread were to settle at that level.