For Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System
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The UK’s National Implementation Measures for Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System As submitted to the European Commission This document has been issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, together with the Devolved Administrations for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 13 December 2011 UK’s National Implementation Measures submission - December 2011 1. UK’s National Implementation Measures for Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System This document sets out the levels of free allocation of allowances to installations under Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading System (2013-2020), in accordance with Article 11 of the revised ETS Directive (2009/29/EC). The allocations have been determined in accordance with EU harmonised rules, using data provided from operators of EU ETS Phase III installations in 2010/11. The allocations are not final at this stage until the European Commission accepts the UK’s NIMs and those from other EU Member States. Territorial extent 1. Policy responsibility for emissions trading lies with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), together with the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, and the Northern Irish Executive. References to the government in this document also cover the Devolved Administrations. Background 2. Article 11 of the revised EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) Directive requires Member States to publish and submit a list of all installations to be included in Phase III of the EU ETS. This list should set out any free allocation that will be granted to installations throughout the phase. 3. Unlike in Phases I and II of the EU ETS, free allocation for Phase III is determined in accordance with EU-harmonised rules. These rules are set out in the Community-wide Implementation Measures Decision1 and supporting guidance2. 4. The allocations in this document were put to EU ETS operators for scrutiny between August and October 2011 before being finalised. They are therefore not at this stage open for further comment. That said, allocations included in this document remain preliminary in that they are subject to checking by the European Commission into 2012, and allocations may change as a result of this process. Further, allocations will not be finalised until the Commission has accepted all Member States’ NIMs submissions in case a cross-sectoral correction factor needs to be applied. More information on this factor is set out in para 16. 1 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:130:FULL:EN:PDF 1 UK’s National Implementation Measures submission - December 2011 Introduction to the EU Emissions Trading System The European Union Emissions Trading System 5. Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘the EU ETS Directive’) established a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the European Community. The EU ETS is divided into distinct phases. The current Phase (2008-2012) corresponds with the Kyoto period. Phase III will run from 2013 to 2020. 6. The EU ETS works on a ‘cap and trade’ basis, meaning that there is an absolute limit on the emissions covered by the EU ETS. All operators under the existing EU ETS must monitor and report their emissions. At the end of each year they are required to surrender allowances to account for their actual emissions. One tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent is equal to one EU allowance. Operators may surrender all or part of their free allocation to cover their emissions, and have the flexibility to buy additional allowances or to sell any surplus resulting from reducing emissions below the allocation level. 7. As a result of the revised EU ETS Directive (2009/29/EC)3, adopted in 2009, a number of changes are to take effect in Phase III of the EU ETS. It will see the introduction of a centralised, EU-wide cap on emissions to ensure a more consistent approach across the EU. The cap will reduce by 1.74% each year, delivering an overall reduction of 21% below 2005 verified emissions by 2020. In addition, auctioning will be the preferred means of distributing allowances and there will be reduced access to project credits from outside the EU. These changes will incentivise greater emission reductions, create more predictable market conditions and improve certainty for industry. Further, there is to be an extended scope to explicitly cover new activities, such as the production of aluminium or nitric acid. 8. Crucially, Phase III will also see a different approach to the way allowances are allocated for free. Free allocation for installations will be determined by way of a harmonised, EU- wide approach, distinct from previous phases. The methodology for determining free allocation is outlined in Commission Decision (2011/278/EU), adopted on 27 April 2011, after agreement by Member States in 2010. There will be no free allocation for electricity generation, except in certain circumstances. Furthermore, the new entrant reserve (NER) – allowances kept aside for new installations or incumbents which expand their production capacity – will be managed by the European Commission rather than by Member States. 9. In 2013, installations will receive 80% of their benchmarked allocation, declining to 30% in 2020 and 0% by 2027. For those sectors that are deemed to be at significant risk of Carbon 2 http://ec.europa.eu/clima/documentation/ets/benchmarking_en.htm 3 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:140:0063:0087:en:PDF 2 UK’s National Implementation Measures submission – December 2011 Leakage as per Commission Decision (2010/2/EU),4 allocations will remain at 100% of the benchmark for Phase III. The list of sectors deemed to be at significant risk of Carbon Leakage will be reviewed in 2014. Approach to the allocation of emissions allowances for free in Phase III 10. The methodology for allocating allowances in Phase III is very different to how it has been done in previous Phases. The Revised EU ETS Directive sets out the principles by which free EU allowances will be distributed to installations in Phase III. These principles are that: • the allocation should be ex-ante i.e. based on historic data and not adjusted ex-post; • the allocation should give incentives to reduce emissions and take into account efficient techniques such as high efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and the energy-efficient recovery of waste gases; • where possible, the allocation should be calculated for final products rather than inputs to maximise emissions reductions; • the preferred methodology for free allocation is to through product benchmarks, where these are feasible to develop; • the starting point for each benchmark level is the average performance of the 10% most efficient installations in a sector or sub-sector in the EU in 2007-2008; • where product benchmarks are not feasible, fall-back approaches will be used in a strict hierarchical order. 11. The use of benchmarking for allocating free allowances rewards early action taken to reduce emissions and encourages installations to undertake further abatement. Critically, the approach to developing benchmarks, and the rules for how they are to be applied, is consistent across the EU and also across all the industrial sectors where there is entitlement to free allocation. 12. The European Commission’s Decision (2011/278/EC)5 on EU-wide rules for harmonised free allocation was adopted in April 2011. This was developed by the European Commission and negotiated by Member States throughout 2009-10. Detailed guidance on how to implement the free allocation rules was agreed by Member States in April 20116. Stakeholders were able to input into these processes. 4 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:001:0010:0018:EN:PDF 5 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:130:FULL:EN:PDF 6 http://ec.europa.eu/clima/documentation/ets/benchmarking_en.htm 3 UK’s National Implementation Measures submission - December 2011 13. The rules provide for adjustments in the level of free allocations in the cases of significant capacity changes in the historical emissions baseline period, instances where heat is imported from other EU ETS installations, and where waste gases are transferred. 14. The Environment Agency, working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Chief Inspector Northern Ireland and DECC Offshore, carried out an initial data collection trawl in spring 2010. This enabled the government to understand the implications of the benchmarks and the free allocation rules during negotiation of the free allocation Decision. A supplementary data collection was carried out between April – June 2011. All data collected were required to be verified. Determining level of free allocation 15. The Environment Agency and other regulators calculated the draft preliminary levels of allocation in summer 2011. To ensure the allocations were correct and in line with the EU harmonised rules, the Environment Agency carried out a series of checks on the collected data and on the calculated levels of allocation. To further ensure confidence, operators were invited to scrutinise these draft allocations 22 August – 28 October 2011. Where allocations were revised, operators were advised of the correct level of entitlement. Steps following submission of the UK’s draft National Implementation Measures 16. Following scrutiny, government has finalised this NIMs submission. The European Commission will undergo a process of checking Member States’ draft allocations to ensure that the harmonised free allocation rules have been correctly applied. The allocations in this document are still preliminary7 in that: • The Commission’s checking of the NIMs will involve a plausibility-check on all allocations, followed by a detailed check on installations that are at risk of having their allocations incorrectly determined (e.g. complex sectors or where specific rules may apply).