15th EU ETS Compliance Conference

The 15^th EU ETS Compliance Conference was organized on 26 and 27 November 2024 with around 350 participants joining either online or in person in the conference centre in Brussels.

The Compliance Conference is organized annually by DG CLIMA colleagues for the Competent Authorities and National Accreditation Bodies in EU ETS countries with the aim of informing and exchanging best practices about new and upcoming developments of the EU ETS framework. This year, the colleague from the Energy Community Secretariat and some representatives from public bodies of the Energy Community Parties that are working on implementation of ETS also followed the Compliance Conference as participants. 

The main topic is Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of emissions and Accreditation of verifiers (MRVA) within the EU ETS compliance cycle and harmonized compliance with the MRVA rules across the EU ETS countries. The central theme this year was The road to 2030 and beyond. Presentations were combined with interactive sessions and panel discussions. 

Day 1: The conference started with an opening speech from DG CLIMA Director-General Kurt Vandenberghe elaborating on the latest developments in EU climate policy including through the prism of reaching the EU’s 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets, as well as various measures, instruments and legislative acts in place.  Even though the challenges remain manifold, the EU ETS is an important tool for achieving the EU climate goals and it remains a source of inspiration for other major economies. Later in the morning the panellists: CLIMA.B Director Beatriz Yordi, Tomasz Karpinski from the Energy Community secretariat and colleagues from 4 Member States zoomed-in – from their own field of work – on the challenges on the way towards meeting the climate targets by 2030. 

In the afternoon, three sessions were organized comprising two Task Forces in parallel breakout groups for: the five Task Forces active under the MRVA Compliance Forum (on Monitoring and Reporting, on Verification and Accreditation, on CCUS, on aviation and the one recently established on maritime) and one additional breakout on ETS2 each discussed recent developments and progress made in the topic areas.  Compliance Forum Task Forces are MS-driven platforms to share experience and provide input to the work of the Commission. They address the actual topics and participate in knowledge exchange and contribute to revision of the relevant legislation. Day 1 concluded with a presentation from Dimitar Nikov (DG CLIMA) on the MRVA of non-CO2 aviation effects.

Day 2 of the conference started with the keynote address by the Director Beatriz Yordi on the significant increase of carbon pricing coverage in Europe and beyond. Following this the implementation challenges on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) were presented by Romain Laugier (DG TAXUD). Subsequently Ruben Vermeeren (DG CLIMA) presented on the use of auction revenues and their spending in practice, and Joao Serrano Gomes (DG CLIMA) presented on the Innovation and Modernisation Funds including the financing process for each of the Funds set up in the EU ETS directive.

Irini Nikolaou (DG CLIMA) presented this year´s National Implementation Measures (NIMs) exercise and the Commission approach to the assessment of a large data set submitted by Member State Competent Authorities by the legal deadline 30 September 2024. Afterwards, Irini joined the panel discussion where the representatives from 5 Member States shared their experience and lessons learned during this year´s collection and submission of Baseline Data Reports by the EU ETS operators who applied for free allocation for the period 2026-2030.

A final set of presentations summarized the main activities of the five Compliance Forum Task Forces in the last year and their workplans for the coming year. The conference concluded in a forward-looking way highlighting DG CLIMA future needs on MRVA and where the continuous support from Member States will be instrumental for the MRVA Compliance Forum activities.

Proceedings

Presentations 

Day 1:

• 1. Panel discussion – climate targets 2030
• 2. Breakout sessions of the Compliance Forum Task Forces (TF)
  • 2.1 Breakout session - TF Accreditation & Verification (A&V)
  • 2.1 Breakout session - TF Accreditation & Verification - IE
  • 2.2 TF Carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS)
  • 2.3 TF Monitoring & Reporting (M&R)
  • 2.4 TF Aviation
  • 2.5 TF Maritime
  • 2.6 ETS2
• 3. MRVA of non-CO₂ aviation effects

Day 2:

• 4. Keynote address – Coverage of carbon markets in Europe and beyond
• 5. Implementation of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• 6.1 Auctioning and Social Climate Fund
• 6.2 Innovation Fund and Modernization Fund
• 7. Overview of National Implementation Measures (NIMs) assessment
• 8. Panel discussion – MS experience with NIMs assessment
• 9. Task Force agendas for 2025:
  • Task Force Monitoring & Reporting (M&R)
    • Task Force Acreditation & Verification (A&V)
    • Task Force Aviation
    • Task Force Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization (CCUS)
• 10. CLIMA.B2 – Future MRVA support and needs