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Climate Action
News article8 January 2014Directorate-General for Climate Action

EU Climate Change Committee agrees back-loading

The EU Climate Change Committee today discussed and agreed the draft amendment of the EU ETS Auctioning Regulation on back-loading.

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The EU Climate Change Committee today discussed and agreed the draft amendment of the EU ETS Auctioning Regulation on back-loading.

The Committee, in which all Member States are represented, endorsed the European Commission's proposal of making the back-loading volume for 2014 dependent on the quarter in which back-loading implementation starts.

This means that if the auction calendars can still be adapted by end-March, a total of 400 million allowances will be back-loaded for 2014. This amount will be reduced to 300 million if back-loading is initiated in April, May or June.

To enable an early start to back-loading, Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, has written to the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Chair of the European Parliament's Environment Committee to request a shortening of the normal 3-month period for scrutinising the amendment. How much shorter the period will be lies in the hands of the Council and Parliament.

The final text of the amendment contains a provision that may need to be applied for some of those Member States making use of transitional free allocation for the modernisation of power plants in case the auction volume available to them after deducting the amount for transitional free allocation is lower than their share of the back-loaded volume.

Regular updates on the implementation of back-loading, including preparatory steps, will be provided via this website.

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Publication date
8 January 2014
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action