Commissie akkoord met Estse plannen voor emissiehandel (en)

The European Commission today concluded the assessment of Estonia's national plan for allocating carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission allowances for the 2008-2012 trading period of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

The Commission accepted Estonia's national plan on condition that certain changes are made, including a reduction in the total number of emission allowances proposed. The cleared annual allocation is 12.7 million tonnes of CO 2 allowances, 47.8% less than Estonia had proposed.

The Emissions Trading Scheme ensures that greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and industry sectors covered are cut at least cost to the economy, thus helping the EU and its Member States to meet their emission commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

Assessment of the NAPs

Following the Commission's decisions in November 2006, January 2007, February 2007, March and April 2007 ( IP/06/1650 , IP/07/51 , IP/07/136 , IP/07/247 , IP/07/412 , IP/07/415 , IP/07/459 and IP/07/501 ), Estonia's is the 20 th national allocation plan (NAP) for the 2008-2012 period to be assessed by the Commission.

NAPs determine for each Member State the 'cap,' or limit, on the total amount of CO 2 that installations covered by the EU ETS can emit, and specify how many CO 2 emission allowances each plant will receive.

The Commission is responsible for assessing Member States' proposed NAPs against 12 allocation criteria listed in the Emissions Trading Directive. [1] The Commission may accept a plan in part or in full.

The assessment criteria seek, among other things, to ensure that plans are consistent (a) with meeting the EU's and Member States' Kyoto commitments, (b) with actual verified emissions reported in the Commission's annual progress reports, and (c) with technological potential for reducing emissions. In this context, the Commission is requiring Estonia to reduce its proposed cap by 11.7 million tonnes of CO 2 equivalent per year to 12.7 million tonnes.

Other assessment criteria relate to non-discrimination, EU competition and state aid rules, and technical aspects. In this regard, the Commission is requiring further changes to Estonia's plan concerning:

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  The total quantity of allowances needs to include a reserve for credits to be issued for projects reducing emissions in the EU ETS sector in Estonia carried out under the Kyoto Protocol's Joint Implementation mechanism. The allocation to installations carrying out the relevant activities needs to be lowered correspondingly.
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  The allocations to installations benefiting from a bonus for early action may not exceed expected needs.
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  More information needs to be provided on how Estonia will treat new entrants to the emissions trading scheme.

The Commission's approval of the plan will become automatic once Estonia has made the appropriate changes.

See also:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/2nd_phase_ep.htm

Summary information on the 20 plans assessed to date:

Approved allowances for 2005-2007, verified emissions in 2005, proposed caps for 2008-2012, approved caps for 2008-2012, additional emissions covered in 2008 to 2012 and limit on the use of credits from emission-saving projects in third countries

[1]. Directive 2003/87/EC, as amended by Directive 2004/101/EC.

[2] The figures indicated in this column comprise emissions in installations that come under the coverage of the scheme in 2008 to 2012 due to an extended scope applied by the Member State and do not include new installations entering the scheme in sectors already covered in the first trading period.

[3] The JI/CDM limit is expressed as a percentage of the member state's cap and indicates the maximum extent to which companies may surrender JI or CDM credits instead of EU ETS allowances to cover their emissions. These credits are generated by emission-saving projects carried out in third countries under the Kyoto Protocol's project-based flexible mechanisms, known as Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

[4] Including installations which Belgium opted to exclude temporarily from the scheme in 2005

[5] Additional installations and emissions of over 6 million tonnes are already included as of 2006.

[6] Verified emissions for 2005 do not include installations which the UK opted to exclude temporarily from the scheme in 2005 but which will be covered in 2008 to 2012 and are estimated to amount to some 30 Mt.

[7] The sum of verified emissions for 2005 does not include installations which the UK

opted to exclude temporarily from the scheme in 2005 but which will be covered in 2008 to 2012 and are estimated to amount to some 30 Mt.