Emission trading schemes and rules on public aid – what is a relation between them?
- Category: Judgments of the European Court of Justice
Very interesting are considerations made by Court of the First Instance in the judgment of the of 10 April 2008 in Case T‑233/04, Kingdom of the Netherlands, supported by Federal Republic of Germany versus Commission of the European Communities, concerning the state aid issues in the emission trading scheme for nitrogen oxides.
Admissibility of the ex-post adjustments in NAP’s
- Category: Judgments of the European Court of Justice
The following judgment of the Court of the First Instance is important, because it prejudges the legality and admissibility of ex–post adjustments in national allocation plans for emission allowances. It relates to Germany, but bearing in mind that precedent, a draft of a new Polish greenhouse gas emission trading statute (version of 23.06.20008 published on the site of Polish Ministry of the Nature Conservation) also provides for such adjustments. In this case the European Commission was opposite ex-post adjustments (as incompatible with the integrity of the scheme), but it failed in the court proceedings. In the aftermath of this case, in the third trading period 2013 – 2020 it is provided expressis verbis that no ex post adjustments are admissible.
The principle of equal treatment in the functioning of the EU ETS
- Category: Judgments of the European Court of Justice
How does operate the principle of equal treatment in relation to the EU ETS?
Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 16 December 2008 in Case C‑127/07 contributes to explaining this matter. It also concerns, as a preliminary ruling, the validity of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (OJ 2003 L 275, p. 32).
An error in the Polish text of the climate legislation
- Category: Emissions trading
In the Polish translation of the Official Journal of the European Union publishing Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament And of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020 (OJ L 140, 5.6.2009, p. 136.) we found an error in Article 5 paragraph 5.
Welcome
- Category: ROOT
There is no doubt that the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a key element of the European Climate Change Programme to deliver the EU’s Kyoto Protocol commitment of an 8 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2012.
The EU ETS is the world’s largest market for carbon dioxide equivalent emissions allowances covering the 27 member states of the European Union and covering approximately half of the EU’s CO2 emissions. EU ETS is a mean of pricing carbon in the economy and of ensuring that emissions are reduced cost-effectively.
Probably in the near future EU ETS will become a building block for a global carbon market. We have to bear in mind, that EUETS is only a legal concept, so law is essential for its proper functioning and implementation.
We are convinced, that EUETS is worth of being analyzed from a legal point of view – and we will do this on that website.