Aviation in the EUETS from 2012

Aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System from 2012

This section of the site provides information on the development of arrangements for regulating the aviation sector in the UK under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). This should be of interest predominantly to aircraft operators who will be regulated directly under the System.

Forecasts from the Department for Transport's (DfT) Future of air transport white paper suggest that by 2030, aviation could contribute up to about a quarter of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. We believe the best way of ensuring aviation contributes towards climate stabilisation is through a well-designed emissions trading regime.

In conjunction with DfT, we held a consultation on The European Commission’s draft legislative proposal for including aviation in the EU ETS in 2007, which is published on the Department for Transport's website. On 4 March 2009, DECC published a consultation on the first stage of passing the aviation directive into UK law. This consultation closed on 14 May 2009. The first stage Regulations were laid before Parliament on 27 August 2009, following the publication of the list of aircraft operators to be regulated by each Member State in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 August 2009.

Latest News

Friday 12 March:

On 19 February 2010 the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Transport jointly held an event focussing on the key issues covered in the consultation on UK second stage transposition of the EU Directive (2008/101/EC) to include Aviation in the EU ETS.

Feedback received on the day will feed into the Government response to the consultation, but for those who were unable to attend, presentations from the day giving an overview of the EU ETS and issues covered in the consultation are now available. Common questions brought on the day are also addressed in the document below.

In addition, a video has been added to YouTube which summarises the themes covered of the day.

21 December 2009:

Consultation on second stage transposition of EU Directive (2008/101/EC) to include Aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)

The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a public consultation on 11 December to seek views on the draft second set of implementing Regulations to transpose EU Directive 2008/101/EC to include aviation in to the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

The second stage Regulations that are the subject of the consultation will complete the UK transposition of the Directive.

The consultation will run from 11 December 2009 until 5 March 2010.

21 October 2009:

The UK Director General of Civil Aviation at the Department for Transport (DfT) has written an open letter to the 891 aircraft operators regulated by the UK, highlighting the important deadlines that operators should be aware of, and explaining how to comply. A copy of the letter can be found on the Department for Transport: Environmental issues web page.

17 September 2009:

The first stage Aviation EU ETS Regulations, which were laid before Parliament on 27 August, are now in force. Aircraft operators are required to apply to their UK regulator for an emissions plan no later than 12 November 2009. If a person becomes an aircraft operator after the Regulations come into force they must apply to their UK regulator for an emissions plan within 8 weeks of becoming an aircraft operator. Further information on how to apply for plans is available on the Environment Agency website.

1 September 2009:

The first Stage Aviation EU ETS Regulations are now available on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website. The accompanying Impact Assessment (IA) is available from our consultation pages. We made the final draft Regulations available on this site on 3 August 2009 to give aircraft operators early sight of the obligations the Regulations would place upon them. This version of the Regulations is no longer available on this site but the final Regulations as laid do not contain material variations from the draft version.

27 August 2009:

Laying of First Stage Aviation EU ETS Regulations before Parliament

Following the publication of the list of aircraft operators to be regulated by each Member State in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 22 August we have now laid our first stage Regulations before Parliament. The Regulations transpose in part the Aviation EU ETS Directive (2008/101/EC). The Regulations will be published on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website shortly. The Regulations and the accompanying Impact Assessment will then be made available on this site.

The Regulations will come into force on 17 September 2009. All aircraft operators included in the Aviation EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and allocated to the UK for regulation will be required to apply to their UK regulator for an emissions plan. Operators will be able to access the Environment Agency’s web-based portal in order to prepare their applications from 27 August 2009 after receiving registration details from the Environment Agency.

Operators will be able to submit their plans via the portal from 17 September. We encourage them to do so as soon as possible after this date and no later than 12 November 2009 (the deadline given in the Regulations). Regulators are required to approve or refuse to issue a plan within 4 months of the date of receiving an application.

If a person becomes an aircraft operator after 17 September they must apply to their Regulator for an emissions plan within 8 weeks of becoming an aircraft operator.

In addition to the mandatory requirement to apply for an emissions plan, an aircraft operator allocated to the UK for regulation may apply to their UK Regulator for a benchmarking plan, which is necessary to apply for a free allocation of allowances.

Further information can be found on the Environment Agency Aviation ETS webpages.

3 August 2009:

Publication of final draft first stage Regulations transposing the EU Directive to include aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) into UK law

We are publishing, for information purposes only, the final draft first stage Regulations transposing the EU Directive to include aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (2008/101/EC, which amends ETS Directive 2003/87/EC) into UK law, ahead of formally laying them before Parliament.

This will provide aircraft operators expected to be regulated by the UK with early sight of the obligations the Regulations would place upon them.

We do not presently expect that the draft to be laid will contain material variations from this draft.

This is not a further consultation on the first stage Regulations – a consultation took place from 4 March - 14 May 2009.
A summary of responses to that consultation and the Government’s response can be found on the consultation page of this site.
A further consultation on second stage transposition will be launched in August 2009.
As announced on 8 July 2009 we are unable to lay the first stage Regulations before Parliament until the European Commission publishes its list of aircraft operators to be regulated by each Member State in the Official Journal of the European Union.
We intend to lay before Parliament the first stage Regulations shortly after the list is published. The Regulations will come into force no fewer than 21 days after being laid. Aircraft operators subject to UK regulation under the Directive will then be required to apply to their UK regulator for an emissions plan within 8 weeks of the Regulations coming into force.

All the consultation documents (except for the Impact Assessment, which will be published shortly) including the Government's response are available in the Consultation section of this site.

Further information

We will update the website when information changes, but for more information we advise you check the European Commission’s website, which will also be updated with news from the Commission.

Aviation Directive summary

Read the full Directive

	Final agreement (October 2008)
Timing	2012: inclusion of all flights arriving at and departing from EU airports
Level of emissions cap	2012: 97 percent of average 2004-6 emissions 2013: 95 percent of 2004-6 emissions
Auctioning	2012: harmonised level of 15 percent auctioning 2013: auctioning level for 2013 onwards to be negotiated in the wider EU ETS review negotiations. No legally binding hypothecation clause
Free allocation criteria	Great circle distance plus 95km (fixed). Operators may choose to apply (i) actual weight (ii) standard weight or (iii) default passenger weight of 100kg
Special reserve	Creation of a reserve for new entrants and fast-growing airlines from within the cap. 3 percent of the total capped allowances for that phase. Allocated to new operators and those whose activity data shows an increase of more than 18 percent per annum
Open trading scheme. Access to Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) & Emission Reduction Units (ERUs)	Open trading scheme but with the removal of the clause that allows convertibility between Assigned Amounts (AAs) and EU Allowance Units (EUAs) 2012: 15 percent access to CERs and ERUs 2012+: to be confirmed as part of ETS review negotiations
Notable exemptions. A full list is available on the European Commission website	Weight – certified 5.7t maximum take off mass threshold Heads of State exemption restricted to non-EU Exemption for Public Service Obligations where they are either on specific routes between outermost regions or where capacity offered does not exceed 30,000 seats per year Activity threshold exemption for commercial air operators who operate at a frequency lower than 243 flights per period into, out of, or within the EU for three consecutive four-month periods, or with an emissions threshold of less than 10,000 TCO2 a year

Implementation is being taken forward by the UK Government through the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Environment Northern Ireland, with assistance from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Environment Agency will draw upon its experience of managing the existing EU ETS and the CAA will help deliver an effective system for aviation.

Aviation publications and research

Please see our Publications and research page for documents detailing past research.

You can find more information, including news, FAQs, links to guidance and templates, and help on submitting monitoring and benchmarking plans, on the Environment Agency EU ETS aviation website.

You can contact us at Aviation.EUETS@DECC.gsi.gov.uk.