Commission adopts Decision to implement Court ruling on the cross-sectoral correction factor in the EU Emissions Trading System

The Commission adopted today a Decision revising the cross-sectoral correction factor (CSCF) in relation to the free allocation of emission allowances under the EU ETS.

This Decision implements the judgment of the Court of Justice of 28 April 2016 that meant the Commission had to recalculate the CSCF to be applied as of 1 March 2017.

The Commission calculated the new CSCF values set out in this Decision in line with the relevant provisions of the ETS Directive, following the interpretation given by the Court notably with respect to Article 10a(5) of this Directive, and in close cooperation with the Member States and EEA/EFTA states. In line with the findings of the Court, the new CSCF values are stricter than the previous ones, but the Court rules out a retro-active application of the re-calculated values. In other words, decisions on free allocations adopted before 1 March 2017 will not be affected by the higher CSCF, so that in practice the large majority of allocation decisions for the period 2013-2020 remain unchanged.

More precisely, the new CSCF values will only have to be applied in decisions on allocations or changes to allocations up to 2020 adopted after 1 March 2017.

Read more:

• Court's judgment on free allocation in the EU ETS for the period 2013-2020
• Commission to modify cross-sectoral correction factor for 2018 to 2020
• Q&A