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Commission reveals ETS greenhouse gases down 2%

Greenhouse gases recorded under the EU’s trading system decreased by 2% in 2011, the European Commission has said.

The European Commission has revealed that emissions of greenhouse gases from installations participating in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) decreased by more than 2% last year, according to information provided by Member States registries.

Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said: ”ETS Emissions decreased by more than 2% in 2011 despite an expanding economy recovery. This good result shows that the ETS is delivering cost-effective emissions reductions. It also emphasises why the ETS remains the engine to drive low-carbon growth in Europe”

The Commissioner added: “However, there is still a growing buffer of unused allowances. This is why the Commission, as announced last month, is now reviewing the time profile of phase 3 auctions with a view to reducing the number of allowances for auction in the early years of phase 3”. 2011 emissions data The EU ETS covers more than 12,000 power plants and manufacturing installations in the 27 EU member states, Norway and Liechtenstein and, from this year, emissions from airlines flying to and from airports in these countries.

The Commission said that “despite an expanding European economy, verified emissions of greenhouse gases from these installations dropped to 1.889 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent last year, more than 2% below the 2010 level”. Companies’ level of compliance with the EU ETS rules was again high.

The Commission reported that less tess than 1% of the installations participating did not surrender allowances covering all their 2011 emissions by the deadline of 30 April 2012. These installations are typically small and together account for less than 1% of emissions covered by the EU ETS.

Two per cent of installations failed to submit verified emissions for 2011 by the same deadline.

Aircraft

As in 2010, almost all commercial airlines with significant operations to or from EU airports have reported their 2011 emissions on time, the Commission said. This was despite the fact that these emissions do not trigger obligations to surrender allowances this year and are not needed for specific regulatory purposes. “More than 1200 emissions reports for 2011 have been submitted to the Member States by airlines. There has been systematic non-reporting of 2011 emissions from flights to or from EU airports by airlines based in China and India. This concerns 10 commercial airlines that are currently operating to or from the EU, representing less than 1% of emission reports and less than 3% of emissions.”

International credits

Last year’s record use of international credits has increased the buffer of unused allowances by some 450 million. This means more than 900 million more allowances have been put into circulation than were surrendered for compliance use over the period 2008-2011. Since 2008 installations can surrender international emission reduction credits generated through the Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanisms in order to offset part of their emissions.

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