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Climate Action
News article26 September 2013Directorate-General for Climate Action

Airlines return almost 103 million aviation allowances

Aircraft operators have returned 102 994 338 aviation allowances following the 'stop-the-clock' decision. Furthermore, 11 904 816 aviation allowances for flights covered by the decision were not allocated free of charge to aircraft operators which...

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Aircraft operators have returned 102 994 338 aviation allowances following the 'stop-the-clock' decision. Furthermore, 11 904 816 aviation allowances for flights covered by the decision were not allocated free of charge to aircraft operators which had not opened an account prior to the decision. As a result, 11 940 329 aviation allowances (15%) are to be auctioned in total for 2012.

The 'stop-the-clock' decision, approved in April 2013, allowed airlines covered by the EU Emissions Trading System not to monitor and report emissions, or surrender allowances, for emissions from flights during 2012 to and from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and closely related countries and territories. Aircraft operators choosing to benefit from this decision had to either return, or to have not been issued, free allowances for flights covered by the decision.

The volume of aviation allowances that was returned and the volume that was not issued adds up to around 63 % of the initial amount of aviation allowances for 2012 that had been foreseen for free-of-charge allocation. The number of aviation allowances to be auctioned will be reduced by the same proportion.

Aviation allowances for the year 2012 will be auctioned as aviation allowances valid for the 2013-2020 trading period. It remains to be decided whether these volumes will be auctioned in 2013 or 2014. The Commission and Member States will discuss the appropriate auction calendars with the auction platforms. Next steps will be announced on this website or by the auction platforms directly.

The number of allowances returned by each aircraft operator is shown in the list below.

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Publication date
26 September 2013
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action