14th EU ETS Compliance Conference

The 14^th EU ETS Compliance Conference brought together around 250 participants online and in Brussels from the Competent Authorities and National Accreditation Bodies of EU ETS countries as well as EU neighbouring countries. For one day and a half of intensive programme, experts discussed various aspects in emissions trading around the central theme ‘meeting scaled-up ambitions’.

The keynote speech on day 1 was provided by the Director-General of DG Climate Action, who started with a short overview of the main achievements to date of the EU ETS, which was named “both the crown jewel and the work horse of the EU Climate Policy”. He furthermore provided an overview of the progress in implementation of many regulations that were reopened, following the revision of the EU ETS Directive. This keynote address was followed by a presentation on the Revision of the EU ETS monitoring and reporting regulation (MRR) by the Head of Unit in DG Climate Action unit B2. This presentation included all details of the 1^st batch of MRR revision that was adopted in October 2023 as well as the 2^nd batch of MRR revision that is envisaged for adoption in Q2 of 2024.

Plenary presentations in the afternoon of day 1 focused on the implementation progress on ETS2 for buildings, road transport and other sectors, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the inclusion of maritime emissions in ETS1. In addition, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) provided an update on the electronic monitoring and reporting system for shipping emissions: THETIS-MRV. Two blocks of interactive discussions completed day 1. In the morning of day 1 the four Compliance Forum Task Forces held so-called break-out sessions to discuss recent developments and experience in their topic areas. In the afternoon, the experts from three competent authorities (France, Romania and the Netherlands) discussed their national implementation choices and challenges in dealing with additional requirements in ETS1, ETS2 and CBAM.

The morning of day 2 centred around the international dimension of carbon markets. The keynote speaker from ICAP provided an overview of emissions trading systems worldwide, the key trends and recent developments. This was followed by a presentation from the Republic of South Korea with a comprehensive overview of the Korean ETS including design choices made, achievements and future plans. Speakers from the Energy Community Secretariat and the Republic of Serbia continued with a status update on the Implementation of the Energy Community Decarbonisation Roadmap and the implementation of the ETS MRVA package in Serbia, including all practical lessons learned and challenges. The block of presentations was completed by DG Climate Action and the Spanish presidency to the EU, who addressed cooperation with other emissions trading systems and international carbon markets as well as the EU agenda to the COP28 that was scheduled to start the following week (30 November). Speakers from the morning session continued sharing their expertise in a panel debate on international learning in ETS design.

A final set of plenary presentations informed participants on the main activities of the four Compliance Forum Task Forces during the last year, the agendas for each of the Task Forces for the coming year and an update on DG CLIMA’s MRVA support activities, including continued support to the Compliance Forum activities and the planned further development of the ETS Reporting Tool.

Proceedings

Plenary presentations