Category Carbon Management

Starting from 1 January 2013, the European Emissions Trading System entered its third phase of implementation. Italy applies the new regulation defined by the European Directive 2009/29/EC with the Decree n. 30 of 13 March 2013, that defines simplified procedures for small installation that requested the exclusion (also called “opt-out”) from the ETS.

The Italian Competent Authority, with Deliberation 16/2013,  has recently approved a list of 166 small emitters and their annual emissions cap, defining the new requirements and procedures to fulfill. To be compliant to the system, small emitters shall submit the Monitoring Plan, in the new simplified format, no later than 30 September 2013.

On 28 June 2013, the European Commission issued a proposal for maritime transport regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from shipping sector. The COM(2013) 480 Proposal was drawn  after a public consultation occurred during 2010 (SWD(2013) 237 final), involving the main stakeholders: private companies, ship-owners, ports operators, trade unions, EU Regional and National public authorities and NGOs.

The Regulation lays down rules for the emissions management of ships arriving at, within or departing from ports under the jurisdiction of a Member State – transport by 1 July 2015 – in order to promote the reduction of CO2 emissions from maritime transport in a cost effective manner.

At present the European Emissions Trading System includes the most energy-intensive industries and aviation. The extension of the system to the maritime sector would significantly broaden the binding system to reduce GHG emissions in Europe.

Decreto Legislativo n.30 of 13th March 2013, transposes Directive 2009/29/EC (Emissions Trading) into Italian legislation.

Art. 2 defines in clearer terms the scope of work of the Directive, in particular in realtion with the waste incineration plants.

GSE is appointed to set up and manage the auctioning platform for allowances. Most of the content of the decree reflects changes already introduced in the past months in operative terms by specific resolutions of the National Competent Authority.

On Friday 16/11/2012, the Italian National Authority for the Emissions Trading Directive has published on its web site the deliberation n.27/2012, which establish the obligation for the Italian ETS plants to present the emissions monitoring plan in the new EU format for the period 2013-2020.

The Italian plants have time untill January 31st 2013 to fill in the excel template and sumbit it to the ETS committee. Some more days are needed to decide for the ‘opt-out’ plants, which are still waiting a final decision for their ‘exclusion’ from the standard obligations.

Untill the 31st of december 2012, the monitoring of emissions continues as of deliberation 14/2009 as modified by 14/2010.

For more information about the EU monitoring dispositions and templates: EU ETS monitoring

The European Commission has adopted this summer the new regulations on monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and on verification and accreditation of verifiers under the EU Emissions Trading System, that will rule the third trading period of the EU ETS starting in January 2013.

The Italian ETS committee has approved the list of plants that fall within the scope of the Emissions Trading Directive, including the pre-allocation of free allowances (subject to EC review).

Operators of ETS plants will be asked in the coming months, to submit further documentation to align with the new regulation.

Italian Emissions Trading plants emitting less than 25.000 tons CO2/year and with a thermal energy input lower than 35 MW can opt-out from the ETS scheme and request to be admitted to a simplified management scheme for their CO2 emissions. The deliberation of the NAtional Competent Authority can be downloaded at the folowing link (Italian).

The deadline to present the request is Friday, 8th June 2012 @12 a.m.

See also on the same topic (only Italian):

24 04 2012 – Novità in arrivo per gli impianti ETS di dimensioni ridotte

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

Last days for EU-ETS plants to surrender 2011 emissions to their national registries. Final deadline is April 30th 2012.

The Carbon market situation remains very uncertain, with EUA 08-12 Spot trading at around 7,19 €/t (EUA-08-12, Bluenext, 18/04/2012), as economic crisis has reduced significantly the emissions of EU plants (together with an increase of production of renewable energy). The attached graph shows verified emissions of the last four years: total EU-27 ETS emissions have decreased in 2011 by 12,5% compared to 2008 levels (14,4% for Italy), clearly showing an average reduction in the need to cover short positions, and therefore reducing the demand on the trading platforms.

The news introduced by EC from 2013, like the absence of free allocations for power production plants for instance, have not yet sorted the effects of maintaining a reasonable price level which can justify and really enforce investments in energy efficiency.

Is the pricing really reflecting already the new 2013 regime? Will the third period bring an improvement to the mechanism? Please send us your comments, or do contact us for more information.

EU ETS verified_emissions_2011_en

Tomorrow, 20th April 2012, at Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore (Venezia) an important event to know more about one of the consequences of greenhouse gas effect, with the participation of Sergio Castellari, National Focal Point of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and Jaroslav Mysiak, distinguished and experienced researcher in water economics and governance, climate risk and adaptation. Start at h.4. p.m.

The Italian Minister for the Environment, Dr. Corrado Clini, presented yesterday the National GHG reduction plan for 2020 to the inter-ministerial committee for economic planning (CIPE). The plan is based on the EU targets and decarbonization strategy at 2050.
The measures include the creation of a ‘catalogue’ of technologies, systems and products for the decarbonization of the National economy; the introduction of a carbon tax (bringing resources to the Kyoto rotation fund); energy efficiency, distributed energy generation and development of smart grids and smart cities; green building and extension of the 55% tax credit for low carbon investments; the management of forests as carbon sinks and as a resource of biomass and bio-fuels.

These objectives “are aligned with technological innovation – explained Clini – and with the need of renovation of the production chains, and give to the European economy the opportunity to compete with that of US, India, China and Brasil, Countries which are heavily investing in new and low carbon technologies”.
The proposals fall into the scope of the National plan for the reduction of GHG emissions which Italy needs to implement in order to reach the targets identified by the EU energy and climate package (20-20-20).

[Source: Minambiente; Translation: MR Energy]