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Climate Action
News article13 December 2012Directorate-General for Climate Action

Growing consensus in Climate Change Committee on main elements of forthcoming changes to EU ETS regi...

Today the Climate Change Committee debated the main features of a forthcoming amendment to the Regulation which governs the registry infrastructure underpinning the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

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Today the Climate Change Committee debated the main features of a forthcoming amendment to the Regulation which governs the registry infrastructure underpinning the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

These amendments aim to implement existing provisions in the EU's 2008 climate and energy legislation package.

In relation to international credits generated from Joint Implementation (Emission Reduction Units - ERUs), draft texts for the following provisions were presented by the Commission today:

  1. in accordance with rules on avoiding the double counting of emission reductions, ERUs from projects hosted in Member States related directly or indirectly to activities within the scope of ETS in phase 2 may be issued no later than 31 December 2012;
  2. ERUs for emission reductions taking place before 31 December 2012 from projects hosted in Member States related to activities not directly or indirectly in the scope of ETS in phase 2, but included in the scope of ETS from phase 3 onwards, may be issued no later than 30 April 2013;
  3. ERUs for emission reductions taking place before 31 December 2012 from projects hosted in third countries not having legally binding quantified emission reductions in the period 2013-2020 may be held in the Union registry provided they are issued by 30 April 2013 and verified in accordance with Joint Implementation track 2 procedures.

The debate showed growing consensus on the substance of these amendments.

The Commission also presented a draft text on a clarification of the banking rules related to aviation allowances. This text proposes that 2012 aviation allowances will be carried over to phase 3 without any change in their designation as aviation allowances.

Changes will also be made to implement existing provisions in the Effort Sharing Decision and to determine operational details for the exchange of international credits for phase 3 allowances.

Based on today's positive outcome, a formal proposal will now be finalised by the Commission and submitted to the Climate Change Committee for a vote. As soon as it has been submitted, the proposal will be posted on the Commission's ETS website.

(This updates the original news item.)

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Details

Publication date
13 December 2012
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action