The European ETS Clause Samples

The European ETS. Energy-intensive industry largely falls under the EU-ETS system. Businesses are required to have emissions allowances for the emission of greenhouse gases. The amount of emission allowances with the ETS (cap) decreases by a reduction factor over time: until 2030, this will be by 2.2 % per year. Industry receives free emission allowances up to the level of the 10% European benchmark. This means that, if a plant is less efficient than the 10% of best performing competitors (based on which the European Commission sets the European benchmark), the owner must purchase additional emissions allowances for the emissions that exceed the European benchmark. The Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa) registers emissions for each plant at the stack itself and monitors whether the owner holds sufficient allowances for those emissions. The system ensures that the carbon price is equal in all participating countries. This is economically efficient, given that European businesses with the cheapest reduction options will be the first to take measures. For that reason, it also makes sense that 37 In order to be able to determine the impact of cross-border scope 3 measures on Dutch emissions targets, a change of European legislation is required in addition to insight into the carbon footprint of products and raw materials. The government will be encouraging such an amendment. the focus should first and foremost be on strengthening the EU-ETS in order to realise the national reduction target. The carbon price has been very low for a long time ever since the 2009 recession, given that too many allowances were in circulation, resulting in a weaker incentive from the ETS to reduce emissions. However, partly as a result of European agreements in 2018 to accelerate the reduction of emissions allowances, the ETS price has risen more recently, and the PBL expects a further increase to approximately 46 euros per tonne by 2030. This is a positive development, given that this will go toward stimulating carbon emissions reduction in Europe on a level playing field. The analysis of the PBL shows that a higher ETS price would lead to an increase in the expected carbon emissions reduction by Dutch industry. As a leader in sustainability, the Netherlands is able to set an attractive and replicable example to other countries – within the European Union in particular. Helping to shift the European benchmarks for energy efficiency within the European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) will contribute ...