Britain’s environment department, Defra, has announced details of its National Allocation Plan (NAP) under phase 2 of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
The plan expands the programme to include activities at an additional 160 installations, responsible for 9.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide that are not covered in phase 1 of the scheme. The government recently announced that phase 2, which runs to 2012, would deliver additional savings of 8 million tonnes of carbon each year.
Environment and climate change minister Ian Pearson said: “Our plans for the second phase of the emissions trading scheme expands its coverage and will result in more carbon emissions being monitored. We are focusing on the biggest carbon emitters whilst removing those businesses where the costs of the scheme outweigh the environmental benefits.”
The total annual allocation for phase 2 will be 246,175,988 allowances of which 237 million are allocated to installations covered in phase 1, with the remainder allocated to emissions that were not covered or opted out. The reduction in allowances against business as usual will be borne entirely by large electricity producers – above 20 MW – as in phase I. All sectors other than generators will be allocated allowances equivalent to projected business as usual emissions with generators allocated the remainder of the total of the overall UK cap.
A decision on the NAP, which has to be approved by the European Commission, is due before the end of the year.
More details are available at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/trading/eu/phase2/phase2nap.htm
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