1814 on the market stability reserve - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2021)551 - Amendment of 2003/87/EC establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union and 2015/1814 ...
document	COM(2021)551
date	May 10, 2023

(1) The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force in November 2016 (“the Paris Agreement”) ³⁶ . Its Parties have agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

(2) Tackling climate and environmental-related challenges and reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement are at the core of the Communication on “The European Green Deal”, adopted by the Commission on 11 December 2019 ³⁷ .

(3) The European Green Deal combines a comprehensive set of mutually reinforcing measures and initiatives aimed at achieving climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, and sets out a new growth strategy that aims to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the Union's natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. At the same time, this transition affects women and men differently and has a particular impact on some disadvantaged groups, such as older people, persons with disabilities and persons with a minority racial or ethnic background. It must therefore be ensured that the transition is just and inclusive, leaving no one behind.

(4) The necessity and value of the European Green Deal have only grown in light of the very severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health, living and working conditions and well-being of the Union’s citizens, which have shown that our society and our economy need to improve their resilience to external shocks and act early to prevent or mitigate them. European citizens continue to express strong views that this applies in particular to climate change ³⁸ .

(5) The Union committed to reduce to reduce the Union’s economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by 2030 below 1990 levels in the updated nationally determined contribution submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat on 17 December 2020 ³⁹ .

(6) In Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁰ the Union has enshrined the target of economy-wide climate neutrality by 2050 in legislation. That Regulation also establishes a binding Union domestic reduction commitment of net greenhouse gas emissions (emissions after deduction of removals) of at least 55 % below 1990 levels by 2030.

(7) All sectors of the economy need to contribute to achieving those emission reductions. Therefore, the ambition of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), established by Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴¹ to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective and economically efficient manner, should be increased in a manner commensurate with this economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030.

(8) The EU ETS should incentivise production from installations that partly or fully reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the description of some categories of activities in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC should be amended to ensure an equal treatment of installations in the sectors concerned. In addition, free allocation for the production of a product should be independent of the nature of the production process. It is therefore necessary to modify the definition of the products and of the processes and emissions covered for some benchmarks to ensure a level playing field for new and existing technologies. It is also necessary to decouple the update of the benchmark values for refineries and for hydrogen to reflect the increasing importance of production of hydrogen outside the refineries sector.

(9) Council Directive 96/61/EC ⁴² was repealed by Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴³ . The references to Directive 96/61/EC in Article 2 of Directive 2003/87/EC and in its Annex IV should be updated accordingly. Given the need for urgent economy-wide emission reductions, Member States should be able to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are under the scope of the EU ETS through other policies than emission limits adopted pursuant to Directive 2010/75/EU.

(10) In its Communication ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All’ ⁴⁴ , the Commission calls for steering the EU towards zero pollution by 2050, by reducing pollution across air, freshwaters, seas and soils to levels which are no longer expected to be harmful for health and natural ecosystems. Measures under Directive 2010/75/EU, as the main instrument regulating air, water and soil pollutant emissions, will often also enable emissions greenhouse gases to be reduced. In line with Article 8 of Directive 2003/87/EC, Member States should ensure coordination between the permit requirements of Directive 2003/87/EC and those of Directive 2010/75/EU.

(11) Recognising that new innovative technologies will often allow reducing emissions of both greenhouse gases and pollutants, it is important to ensure synergies between policies delivering reductions of emissions of both greenhouse gases and pollutants, namely Directive 2010/75/EU, and review their effectiveness in this regard.

(12) The definition of electricity generators was used to determine the maximum amount of free allocation to industry in the period from 2013 to 2020, but led to different treatment of cogeneration power plants compared to industrial installations. In order to incentivise the use of high efficiency cogeneration and to ensure equal treatment of all installations receiving free allocation for heat production and district heating, all references to electricity generators in Directive 2003/87/EC should be deleted. In addition, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 ⁴⁵ specifies the eligibility of all industrial processes for free allocation. Therefore, the provisions on carbon capture and storage in Article 10a(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC have become obsolete and should be deleted.

(13) Greenhouse gases that are not directly released into the atmosphere should be considered emissions under the EU ETS and allowances should be surrendered for those emissions unless they are stored in a storage site in accordance with Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁶ , or they are permanently chemically bound in a product so that they do not enter the atmosphere under normal use. The Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing acts specifying the conditions where greenhouse gases are to be considered as permanently chemically bound in a product so that they do not enter the atmosphere under normal use, including obtaining a carbon removal certificate, where appropriate, in view of regulatory developments with regard to the certification of carbon removals.

(14) International maritime transport activity, consisting of voyages between ports under the jurisdiction of two different Member States or between a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State and a port outside the jurisdiction of any Member State, has been the only means of transportation not included in the Union's past commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from fuel sold in the Union for journeys that depart in one Member State and arrive in a different Member State or a third country have grown by around 36 % since 1990. Those emissions represent close to 90 % of all Union navigation emissions as emissions from fuel sold in the Union for journeys departing and arriving in the same Member State have been reduced by 26 % since 1990. In a business-as-usual scenario, emissions from international maritime transport activities are projected to grow by around 14 % between 2015 and 2030 and 34 % between 2015 and 2050. If the climate change impact of maritime transport activities grows as projected, it would significantly undermine reductions made by other sectors to combat climate change.

(15) In 2013, the Commission adopted a strategy for progressively integrating maritime emissions into the Union's policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a first step in this approach, the Union established a system to monitor, report and verify emissions from maritime transport in Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁷ , to be followed by the laying down of reduction targets for the maritime sector and the application of a market based measure. In line with the commitment of the co-legislators expressed in Directive (EU) 2018/410 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴⁸ , action by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or the Union should start from 2023, including preparatory work on adoption and implementation of a measure ensuring that the sector duly contributes to the efforts needed to achieve the objectives agreed under the Paris Agreement and due consideration being given by all stakeholders.

(16) Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2018/410, the Commission should report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress achieved in the IMO towards an ambitious emission reduction objective, and on accompanying measures to ensure that the maritime transport sector duly contributes to the efforts needed to achieve the objectives agreed under the Paris Agreement. Efforts to limit global maritime emissions through the IMO are under way and should be encouraged. However, while the recent progress achieved through the IMO is welcome, these measures will not be sufficient to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

(17) In the European Green Deal, the Commission stated its intention to take additional measures to address greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime transport sector through a basket of measures to enable the Union to reach its emissions reduction targets. In this context, Directive 2003/87/EC should be amended to include the maritime transport sector in the EU ETS in order to ensure this sector contributes to the increased climate objectives of the Union as well as to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which requires developed countries to take the lead by undertaking economy-wide emission reduction targets, while developing countries are encouraged to move over time towards economy-wide emission reduction or limitation targets. ⁴⁹ Considering that emissions from international aviation outside Europe should be capped from January 2021 by global market-based action while there is no action in place that caps or prices maritime transport emissions, it is appropriate that the EU ETS covers a share of the emissions from voyages between a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State and port under the jurisdiction of a third country, with the third country being able to decide on appropriate action in respect of the other share of emissions. The extension of the EU ETS to the maritime transport sector should thus include half of the emissions from ships performing voyages arriving at a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State from a port outside the jurisdiction of a Member State, half of the emissions from ships performing voyages departing from a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State and arriving at a port outside the jurisdiction of a Member State, emissions from ships performing voyages arriving at a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State from a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State, and emissions at berth in a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State. This approach has been noted as a practical way to solve the issue of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Capabilities, which has been a longstanding challenge in the UNFCCC context. The coverage of a share of the emissions from both incoming and outgoing voyages between the Union and third countries ensures the effectiveness of the EU ETS, notably by increasing the environmental impact of the measure compared to a geographical scope limited to voyages within the EU, while limiting the risk of evasive port calls and the risk of delocalisation of transhipment activities outside the Union. To ensure a smooth inclusion of the sector in the EU ETS, the surrendering of allowances by shipping companies should be gradually increased with respect to verified emissions reported for the period 2023 to 2025. To protect the environmental integrity of the system, to the extent that fewer allowances are surrendered in respect of verified emissions for maritime transport during those years, once the difference between verified emissions and allowances surrendered has been established each year, a corresponding a number of allowances should be cancelled. As from 2026, shipping companies should surrender the number of allowances corresponding to all of their verified emissions reported in the preceding year.

(18) The provisions of Directive 2003/87/EC as regards maritime transport activities should be kept under review in light of future international developments and efforts undertaken to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, including the second global stocktake in 2028, and subsequent global stocktakes every five years thereafter, intended to inform successive nationally determined contributions. In particular, the Commission should report any time before the second global stocktake in 2028 - and therefore no later than by 30 September 2028 - to the European Parliament and to the Council on progress in the IMO negotiations concerning a global market-based measure. In its report, the Commission should analyse the International Maritime Organization instruments and, assess, as relevant, how to implement those instruments in Union law through a revision of Directive 2003/87/EC. In its report, the Commission should include proposals as appropriate.

(19) The Commission should review the functioning of Directive 2003/87/EC in relation to maritime transport activities in the light of experience of its application, including in relation to possible evasive practices, and should then propose measures to ensure its effectiveness.

(20) The person or organisation responsible for the compliance with the EU ETS should be the shipping company, defined as the shipowner or any other organisation or person, such as the manager or the bareboat charterer, that has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the shipowner and that, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibilities imposed by the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention. This definition is based on the definition of ‘company’ in Article 3, point (d) of Regulation (EU) 2015/757, and in line with the global data collection system established in 2016 by the IMO. In line with the polluter pays principle, the shipping company could, by means of a contractual arrangement, hold the entity that is directly responsible for the decisions affecting the CO2 emissions of the ship accountable for the compliance costs under this Directive. This entity would normally be the entity that is responsible for the choice of fuel, route and speed of the ship.

(21) In order to reduce the administrative burden on shipping companies, one Member State should be responsible for each shipping company. The Commission should publish an initial list of shipping companies that performed a maritime activity falling within the scope of the EU ETS, which specifies the administering authority in respect of each shipping company. The list should be updated at least every two years to reattribute shipping companies to another administering authority as relevant. For shipping companies registered in a Member State, the administering authority should be that Member State. For shipping companies registered in a third country, the administering authority should be the Member State in which the shipping company had the greatest estimated number of port calls from voyages falling within the scope of Directive 2003/87/EC in the last two monitoring years. For shipping companies registered in a third country and which did not perform any voyage falling within the scope of Directive 2003/87/EC in the last two monitoring years, the administering authority should be the Member State from where the shipping company started its first voyage falling within the scope of that Directive. The Commission should publish and update on a biennial basis a list of shipping companies falling within the scope of Directive 2003/87/EC specifying the administering authority for each shipping company. In order to ensure equal treatment of shipping companies, Member States should follow harmonised rules for the administration of shipping companies for which they have responsibility, in accordance with detailed rules to be established by the Commission.

(22) Member States should ensure that the shipping companies that they administer comply with the requirements of Directive 2003/87/EC. In the event that a shipping company fails to comply with those requirements and any enforcement measures taken by the administering authority have failed to ensure compliance, Member States should act in solidarity. As a last resort measure, Member States should be able to refuse entry to the ships under the responsibility of the shipping company concerned, except for the Member State whose flag the ship is flying, which should be able to detain that ship.

(23) Shipping companies should monitor and report their aggregated emissions data from maritime transport activities at company level in accordance with the rules laid down in Regulation (EU) 2015/757. The reports on aggregated emissions data at company level should be verified in accordance with the rules laid down in that Regulation. When performing the verifications at company level, the verifier should not verify the emissions report at ship level and the report referred to in Article 11(2) of that Regulation, as those reports at ship level would have been already verified.

(24) Based on experience from similar tasks related to environmental protection, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) or another relevant organisation should, as appropriate and in accordance with its mandate, assist the Commission and the administering authorities in respect of the implementation of Directive 2003/87/EC. Owing to its experience with the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/757 and its IT tools, EMSA could assist the administering authorities notably as regards the monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions generated by maritime activities under the scope of this Directive by facilitating the exchange of information or developing guidelines and criteria.

(25) Regulation (EU) 2017/2392 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁰ amended Article 12(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC to allow all operators to use all allowances that are issued. The requirement for greenhouse gas emissions permits to contain an obligation to surrender allowances, pursuant to Article 6(2), point (e), of that Directive, should be aligned accordingly.

(26) Achieving the Union’s emissions reduction target for 2030 will require a reduction in the emissions of the sectors covered by the EU ETS of 61 % compared to 2005. The Union-wide quantity of allowances of the EU ETS needs to be reduced to create the necessary long-term carbon price signal and drive for this degree of decarbonisation. To this end, the linear reduction factor should be increased, also taking into account the inclusion of emissions from maritime transport. The latter should be derived from the emissions from maritime transport activities reported in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2015/757 for 2018 and 2019 in the Union, adjusted, from year 2021, by the linear reduction factor.

(27) Bearing in mind that this Directive amends Directive 2003/87/EC in respect of a period of implementation that has already started on 1 January 2021, for reasons of predictability, environmental effectiveness and simplicity, the steeper linear reduction pathway of the EU ETS should be a straight line from 2021 to 2030, such as to achieve emission reductions in the EU ETS of 61 % by 2030, as the appropriate intermediate step towards Union economy-wide climate neutrality in 2050. As the increased linear reduction factor can only apply from the year following the entry into force of this Directive, a one-off reduction of the quantity of allowances should reduce the total quantity of allowances so that it is in line with this level of annual reduction having been made from 2021 onwards.

(28) Achieving the increased climate ambition will require substantial public resources in the EU as well as national budgets to be dedicated to the climate transition. To complement and reinforce the substantial climate-related spending in the EU budget, all auction revenues that are not attributed to the Union budget should be used for climate-related purposes. This includes the use for financial support to address social aspects in lower- and middle-income households by reducing distortive taxes. Further, to address distributional and social effects of the transition in low-income Member States, an additional amount of 2,5 % of the Union-wide quantity of allowances from [year of entry into force of the Directive] to 2030 should be used to fund the energy transition of the Member States with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita below 65 % of the Union average in 2016-2018, through the Modernisation Fund referred to in Article 10d of Directive 2003/87/EC.

(29) Further incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using cost-efficient techniques should be provided. To that end, the free allocation of emission allowances to stationary installations from 2026 onwards should be conditional on investments in techniques to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions. Ensuring that this is focused on larger energy users would result in a substantial reduction in burden for businesses with lower energy use, which may be owned by small and medium sized enterprises or micro-enterprises. [Reference to be confirmed with the revised EED]. The relevant delegated acts should be adjusted accordingly.

(30) The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), established under Regulation (EU) […./..] of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵¹ , is an alternative to free allocation to address the risk of carbon leakage. To the extent that sectors and subsectors are covered by that measure, they should not receive free allocation. However, a transitional phasing-out of free allowances is needed to allow producers, importers and traders to adjust to the new regime. The reduction of free allocation should be implemented by applying a factor to free allocation for CBAM sectors, while the CBAM is phased in. This percentage (CBAM factor) should be equal to 100 % during the transitional period between the entry into force of [CBAM Regulation] and 2025, 90 % in 2026 and should be reduced by 10 percentage points each year to reach 0 % and thereby eliminate free allocation by the tenth year. The relevant delegated acts on free allocation should be adjusted accordingly for the sectors and subsectors covered by the CBAM. The free allocation no longer provided to the CBAM sectors based on this calculation (CBAM demand) must be auctioned and the revenues will accrue to the Innovation Fund, so as to support innovation in low carbon technologies, carbon capture and utilisation (‘CCU’), carbon capture and geological storage (‘CCS’), renewable energy and energy storage, in a way that contributes to mitigating climate change. Special attention should be given to projects in CBAM sectors. To respect the proportion of the free allocation available for the non-CBAM sectors, the final amount to deduct from the free allocation and to be auctioned should be calculated based on the proportion that the CBAM demand represents in respect of the free allocation needs of all sectors receiving free allocation.

(31) In order to better reflect technological progress and adjust the corresponding benchmark values to the relevant period of allocation while ensuring emission reduction incentives and properly rewarding innovation, the maximum adjustment of the benchmark values should be increased from 1,6 % to 2,5 % per year. For the period from 2026 to 2030, the benchmark values should thus be adjusted within a range of 4 % to 50 % compared to the value applicable in the period from 2013 to 2020.

(32) A comprehensive approach to innovation is essential for achieving the European Green Deal objectives. At EU level, the necessary research and innovation efforts are supported, among others, through Horizon Europe which include significant funding and new instruments for the sectors coming under the ETS. Member States should ensure that the national transposition provisions do not hamper innovations and are technologically neutral.

(33) The scope of the Innovation Fund referred to in Article 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC should be extended to support innovation in low-carbon technologies and processes that concern the consumption of fuels in the sectors of buildings and road transport. In addition, the Innovation Fund should serve to support investments to decarbonise the maritime transport sector, including investments in sustainable alternative fuels, such as hydrogen and ammonia that are produced from renewables, as well as zero-emission propulsion technologies like wind technologies. Considering that revenues generated from penalties raised in Regulation xxxx/xxxx [FuelEU Maritime] ⁵² are allocated to the Innovation Fund as external assigned revenue in accordance with Article 21(5) of the Financial Regulation, the Commission should ensure that due consideration is given to support for innovative projects aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of renewable and low carbon fuels in the maritime sector, as specified in Article 21(1) of Regulation xxxx/xxxx [FuelEU Maritime]. To ensure sufficient funding is available for innovation within this extended scope, the Innovation Fund should be supplemented with 50 million allowances, stemming partly from the allowances that could otherwise be auctioned, and partly from the allowances that could otherwise be allocated for free, in accordance with the current proportion of funding provided from each source to the Innovation Fund.

(34) Pursuant to Article 10 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 2019/1122 ⁵³ , where aircraft operators no longer operate flights covered by the EU ETS, their accounts are set to excluded status, and processes may no longer be initiated from those accounts. To preserve the environmental integrity of the system, allowances which are not issued to aircraft operators due to their closure should be used to cover any shortfall in surrenders by those operators, and any leftover allowances should be used to accelerate action to tackle climate change by being placed in the Innovation Fund.

(35) Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCDs) are an important element to trigger emission reductions in industry, offering the opportunity to guarantee investors in innovative climate-friendly technologies a price that rewards CO2 emission reductions above those induced by the current price levels in the EU ETS. The range of measures that the Innovation Fund can support should be extended to provide support to projects through price-competitive tendering, such as CCDs. The Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts on the precise rules for this type of support.

(36) Where an installation’s activity is temporarily suspended, free allocation is adjusted to the activity levels which are mandatorily reported annually. In addition, competent authorities can suspend the issuance of emission allowances to installations that have suspended operations as long as there is no evidence that they will resume operations. Therefore, operators should no longer be required to demonstrate to the competent authority that their installation will resume production within a specified and reasonable time in case of a temporary suspension of the activities.

(37) Corrections of free allocation granted to stationary installations pursuant to Article 11(2) of Directive 2003/87/EC can require granting additional free allowances or transferring back surplus allowances. The allowances set aside for new entrants under Article 10a(7) of Directive 2003/87/EC should be used for those purposes.

(38) The scope of the Modernisation Fund should be aligned with the most recent climate objectives of the Union by requiring that investments are consistent with the objectives of the European Green Deal and Regulation (EU) 2021/1119, and eliminating the support to any investments related to fossil fuels. In addition, the percentage of the Modernisation Fund that needs to be devoted to priority investments should be increased to 80 %; energy efficiency should be targeted as a priority area at the demand side; and support of households to address energy poverty, including in rural and remote areas, should be included within the scope of the priority investments.

(39) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066 ⁵⁴ lays down rules on the monitoring of emissions from biomass which are consistent with the rules on the use of biomass laid down in the Union legislation on renewable energy. As the legislation becomes more elaborate on the sustainability criteria for biomass with the latest rules established in Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁵ , the conferral of implementing powers in Article 14(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC should be explicitly extended to the adoption of the necessary adjustments for the application in the EU ETS of sustainability criteria for biomass, including biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. In addition, the Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing acts to specify how to account for the storage of emissions from mixes of zero-rated biomass and biomass that is not from zero-rated sources.

(40) Renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin and recycled carbon fuels can be important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors that are hard to decarbonise. Where recycled carbon fuels and renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin are produced from captured carbon dioxide under an activity covered by this Directive, the emissions should be accounted under that activity. To ensure that renewable fuels of non-biological origin and recycled carbon fuels contribute to greenhouse gas emission reductions and to avoid double counting for fuels that do so, it is appropriate to explicitly extend the empowerment in Article 14(1) to the adoption by the Commission of implementing acts laying down the necessary adjustments for how to account for the eventual release of carbon dioxide and how to avoid double counting to ensure appropriate incentives are in place, taking also into account the treatment of these fuels under Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(41) As carbon dioxide is also expected to be transported by means other than pipelines, such as by ship and by truck, the current coverage in Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC for transport of greenhouse gases for the purpose of storage should be extended to all means of transport for reasons of equal treatment and irrespective of whether the means of transport are covered by the EU ETS. Where the emissions from the transport are also covered by another activity under Directive 2003/87/EC, the emissions should be accounted for under that other activity to prevent double counting.

(42) The exclusion of installations using exclusively biomass from the EU ETS has led to situations where installations combusting a high share of biomass have obtained windfall profits by receiving free allowances greatly exceeding actual emissions. Therefore, a threshold value for zero-rated biomass combustion should be introduced above which installations are excluded from the EU ETS. The threshold value of 95 % is in line with the uncertainty parameter set out in Article 2(16) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/331 ⁵⁶ .

(43) The Communication of the Commission on Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition ⁵⁷ , underlined the particular challenge to reduce the emissions in the sectors of road transport and buildings. Therefore, the Commission announced that a further expansion of emissions trading could include emissions from road transport and buildings. Emissions trading for these two new sectors would be established through separate but adjacent emissions trading. This would avoid any disturbance of the well-functioning emissions trading in the sectors of stationary installations and aviation. The new system is accompanied by complementary policies and measures safeguarding against undue price impacts, shaping expectations of market participants and aiming for a carbon price signal for the whole economy. Previous experience has shown that the development of the new market requires setting up an efficient monitoring, reporting and verification system. In view of ensuring synergies and coherence with the existing Union infrastructure for the EU ETS covering the emissions from stationary installations and aviation, it is appropriate to set up emissions trading for the road transport and buildings sectors via an amendment to Directive 2003/87/ЕC.

(44) In order to establish the necessary implementation framework and to provide a reasonable timeframe for reaching the 2030 target, emissions trading in the two new sectors should start in 2025. During the first year, the regulated entities should be required to hold a greenhouse gas emissions permit and to report their emissions for the years 2024 and 2025. The issuance of allowances and compliance obligations for these entities should be applicable as from 2026. This sequencing will allow starting emissions trading in the sectors in an orderly and efficient manner. It would also allow the EU funding and Member State measures to be in place to ensure a socially fair introduction of the EU emissions trading into the two sectors so as to mitigate the impact of the carbon price on vulnerable households and transport users.

(45) Due to the very large number of small emitters in the sectors of buildings and road transport, it is not possible to establish the point of regulation at the level of entities directly emitting greenhouse gases, as is the case for stationary installations and aviation. Therefore, for reasons of technical feasibility and administrative efficiency, it is more appropriate to establish the point of regulation further upstream in the supply chain. The act that triggers the compliance obligation under the new emissions trading should be the release for consumption of fuels which are used for combustion in the sectors of buildings and road transport, including for combustion in road transport of greenhouse gases for geological storage. To avoid double coverage, the release for consumption of fuels which are used in other activities under Annex I to Directive 2003/87/EC should not be covered.

(46) The regulated entities in the two new sectors and the point of regulation should be defined in line with the system of excise duty established by Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 ⁵⁸ , with the necessary adaptations, as that Directive already sets a robust control system for all quantities of fuels released for consumption for the purposes of paying excise duties. End-users of fuels in those sectors should not be subject to obligations under Directive 2003/87/EC.

(47) The regulated entities falling within the scope of the emissions trading in the sectors of buildings and road transport should be subject to similar greenhouse gas emissions permit requirements as the operators of stationary installations. It is necessary to establish rules on permit applications, conditions for permit issuance, content, and review, and any changes related to the regulated entity. In order for the new system to start in an orderly manner, Member States should ensure that regulated entities falling within the scope of the new emissions trading have a valid permit as of the start of the system in 2025.

(48) The total quantity of allowances for the new emissions trading should follow a linear trajectory to reach the 2030 emissions reduction target, taking into account the cost-efficient contribution of buildings and road transport of 43 % emission reductions by 2030 compared to 2005. The total quantity of allowances should be established for the first time in 2026, to follow a trajectory starting in 2024 from the value of the 2024 emissions limits (1 109 304 000 CO2t), calculated in accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁵⁹ on the basis of the reference emissions for these sectors for the period from 2016 to 2018. Accordingly, the linear reduction factor should be set at 5,15 %. From 2028, the total quantity of allowances should be set on the basis of the average reported emissions for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026, and should decrease by the same absolute annual reduction as set from 2024, which corresponds to a 5,43 % linear reduction factor compared to the comparable 2025 value of the above defined trajectory. If those emissions are significantly higher than this trajectory value and if this divergence is not due to small-scale differences in emission measurement methodologies, the linear reduction factor should be adjusted to reach the required emissions reduction in 2030.

(49) The auctioning of allowances is the simplest and the most economically efficient method for allocating emission allowances, which also avoids windfall profits. Both the buildings and road transport sectors are under relatively small or non-existent competitive pressure from outside the Union and are not exposed to a risk of carbon leakage. Therefore, allowances for buildings and road transport should only be allocated via auctioning without there being any free allocation.

(50) In order to ensure a smooth start to emissions trading in the buildings and road transport sectors and taking into account the need of the regulated entities to hedge or buy ahead allowances to mitigate their price and liquidity risk, a higher amount of allowances should be auctioned early on. In 2026, the auction volumes should therefore be 30 % higher than the total quantity of allowances for 2026. This amount would be sufficient to provide liquidity, both if emissions decrease in line with reduction needs, and in the event emission reductions only materialise progressively. The detailed rules for this front-loading of auction volume are to be established in a delegated act related to auctioning, adopted pursuant to Article 10(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC.

(51) The distribution rules on auction shares are highly relevant for any auction revenues that would accrue to the Member States, especially in view of the need to strengthen the ability of the Member States to address the social impacts of a carbon price signal in the buildings and road transport sectors. Notwithstanding the fact that the two sectors have very different characteristics, it is appropriate to set a common distribution rule similar to the one applicable to stationary installations. The main part of allowances should be distributed among all Member States on the basis of the average distribution of the emissions in the sectors covered during the period from 2016 to 2018.

(52) The introduction of the carbon price in road transport and buildings should be accompanied by effective social compensation, especially in view of the already existing levels of energy poverty. About 34 million Europeans reported an inability to keep their homes adequately warm in 2018, and 6,9 % of the Union population have said that they cannot afford to heat their home sufficiently in a 2019 EU-wide survey ⁶⁰ . To achieve an effective social and distributional compensation, Member States should be required to spend the auction revenues on the climate and energy-related purposes already specified for the existing emissions trading, but also for measures added specifically to address related concerns for the new sectors of road transport and buildings, including related policy measures under Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶¹ . Auction revenues should be used to address social aspects of the emission trading for the new sectors with a specific emphasis in vulnerable households, micro-enterprises and transport users. In this spirit, a new Social Climate Fund will provide dedicated funding to Member States to support the European citizens most affected or at risk of energy or mobility poverty. This Fund will promote fairness and solidarity between and within Member States while mitigating the risk of energy and mobility poverty during the transition. It will build on and complement existing solidarity mechanisms. The resources of the new Fund will in principle correspond to 25 % of the expected revenues from new emission trading in the period 2026-2032, and will be implemented on the basis of the Social Climate Plans that Member States should put forward under Regulation (EU) 20…/nn of the European Parliament and the Council ⁶² . In addition, each Member State should use their auction revenues inter alia to finance a part of the costs of their Social Climate Plans.

(53) Reporting on the use of auctioning revenues should be aligned with the current reporting established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶³ .

(54) Innovation and development of new low-carbon technologies in the sectors of buildings and road transport are crucial for ensuring the cost-efficient contribution of these sectors to the expected emission reductions. Therefore, 150 million allowances from emissions trading in the buildings and road transport sectors should also be made available to the Innovation Fund to stimulate the cost-efficient emission reductions.

(55) Regulated entities covered by the buildings and road transport emissions trading should surrender allowances for their verified emissions corresponding to the quantities of fuels they have released for consumption. They should surrender allowances for the first time for their verified emissions in 2026. In order to minimise the administrative burden, a number of rules applicable to the existing emissions trading system for stationary installations and aviation should be made applicable to emissions trading for buildings and road transport, with the necessary adaptations. This includes, in particular, rules on transfer, surrender and cancellation of allowances, as well as the rules on the validity of allowances, penalties, competent authorities and reporting obligations of Member States.

(56) For emissions trading in the buildings and road transport sectors to be effective, it should be possible to monitor emissions with high certainty and at reasonable cost. Emissions should be attributed to regulated entities on the basis of fuel quantities released for consumption and combined with an emission factor. Regulated entities should be able to reliably and accurately identify and differentiate the sectors in which the fuels are released for consumption, as well as the final users of the fuels, in order to avoid undesirable effects, such as double burden. To have sufficient data to establish the total number of allowances for the period from 2028 to 2030, the regulated entities holding a permit at the start of the system in 2025 should report their associated historical emissions for 2024.

(57) It is appropriate to introduce measures to address the potential risk of excessive price increases, which, if particularly high at the start of the buildings and road transport emissions trading, may undermine the readiness of households and individuals to invest in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. These measures should complement the safeguards provided by the Market Stability Reserve established by Decision (EU) 2015/1814 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶⁴ and that became operational in 2019. While the market will continue to determine the carbon price, safeguard measures will be triggered by rules-based automatism, whereby allowances will be released from the Market Stability Reserve only if concrete triggering conditions based on the increase in the average allowance price are met. This additional mechanism should also be highly reactive, in order to address excessive volatility due to factors other than changed market fundamentals. The measures should be adapted to different levels of excessive price increase, which will result in different degrees of the intervention. The triggering conditions should be closely monitored by the Commission and the measures should be adopted by the Commission as a matter of urgency when the conditions are met. This is without prejudice to any accompanying measures that Member States may adopt to address adverse social impacts.

(58) The application of emissions trading in the buildings and road transport sectors should be monitored by the Commission, including the degree of price convergence with the existing ETS, and, if necessary, a review should be proposed to the European Parliament and the Council to improve the effectiveness, administration and practical application of emissions trading for those sectors on the basis of acquired knowledge as well as increased price convergence. The Commission should be required to submit the first report on those matters by 1 January 2028.

(59) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Articles 3gd(3), 12(3b) and 14(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. To ensure synergies with the existing regulatory framework, the conferral of implementing powers in Articles 14 and 15 of that Directive should be extended to cover the sectors of road transport and buildings. Those implementing powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁶⁵ .

(60) In order to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of Articles 10(4) and 10a(8) of that Directive. Moreover, to ensure synergies with the existing regulatory framework, the delegation in Articles 10(4) and 10a(8) of Directive 2003/87/EC should be extended to cover the sectors of road transport and buildings. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents ⁶⁶ , Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified

(61) A well-functioning, reformed EU ETS comprising an instrument to stabilise the market is a key means for the Union to reach its agreed target for 2030 and the commitments under the Paris Agreement. The Market Stability Reserve seeks to address the imbalance between supply and demand of allowances in the market. Article 3 of Decision (EU) 2015/1814 provides that the reserve is to be reviewed three years after it becomes operational, paying particular attention to the percentage figure for the determination of the number of allowances to be placed in the Market Stability Reserve, the threshold for the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC) that determines the intake of allowances, and the number of allowances to be released from the reserve.

(62) Considering the need to deliver a stronger investment signal to reduce emissions in a cost-efficient manner and with a view to strengthening the EU ETS, Decision (EU) 2015/1814 should be amended so as to increase the percentage rate for determining the number of allowances to be placed each year in the Market Stability Reserve. In addition, for lower levels of the TNAC, the intake should be equal to the difference between the TNAC and the threshold that determines the intake of allowances. This would prevent the considerable uncertainty in the auction volumes that results when the TNAC is close to the threshold, and at the same time ensure that the surplus reaches the volume bandwidth within which the carbon market is deemed to operate in a balanced manner.

(63) Furthermore, in order to ensure that the level of allowances that remains in the Market Stability Reserve after the invalidation is predictable, the invalidation of allowances in the reserve should no longer depend on the auction volumes of the previous year. The number of allowances in the reserve should, therefore, be fixed at a level of 400 million allowances, which corresponds to the lower threshold for the value of the TNAC.

(64) The analysis of the impact assessment accompanying the proposal for this Directive has also shown that net demand from aviation should be included in the total number of allowances in circulation. In addition, since aviation allowances can be used in the same way as general allowances, including aviation in the reserve would make it a more accurate, and thus a better tool to ensure the stability of the market. The calculation of the total number of allowances in circulation should include aviation emissions and allowances issued in respect of aviation as of the year following the entry into force of this Directive.

(65) To clarify the calculation of the total number of allowances in circulation (TNAC), Decision (EU) 2015/1814 should specify that only allowances issued and not put in the Market Stability Reserve are included in the supply of allowances. Moreover, the formula should no longer subtract the number of allowances in the Market Stability Reserve from the supply of allowances. This change would have no material impact on the result of the calculation of the TNAC, including on the past calculations of the TNAC or on the reserve.

(66) In order to mitigate the risk of supply and demand imbalances associated with the start of emissions trading for the buildings and road transport sectors, as well as to render it more resistant to market shocks, the rule-based mechanism of the Market Stability Reserve should be applied to those new sectors. For that reserve to be operational from the start of the system, it should be established with an initial endowment of 600 million allowances for emissions trading in the road transport and buildings sectors. The initial lower and upper thresholds, which trigger the release or intake of allowances from the reserve, should be subject to a general review clause. Other elements such as the publication of the total number of allowances in circulation or the quantity of allowances released or placed in the reserve should follow the rules of the reserve for other sectors.

(67) It is necessary to amend Regulation (EU) 2015/757 to take into account the inclusion of the maritime transport sector in the EU ETS. Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should be amended to oblige companies to report aggregated emissions data at company level and to submit for approval their verified monitoring plans and aggregated emissions data at company level to the responsible administering authority. In addition, the Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts to amend the methods for monitoring CO2 emissions and the rules on monitoring, as well as any other relevant information set out in Regulation (EU) 2015/757, to ensure the effective functioning of the EU ETS at administrative level and to supplement Regulation (EU) 2015/757 with the rules for the approval of monitoring plans and changes thereof by administering authorities, with the rules for the monitoring, reporting and submission of the aggregated emissions data at company level and with the rules for the verification of the aggregated emissions data at company level and for the issuance of a verification report in respect of the aggregated emissions data at company level. The data monitored, reported and verified under Regulation (EU) 2015/757 might also be used for the purpose of compliance with other Union law requiring the monitoring, reporting and verification of the same ship information.

(68) Directive 2003/87/EC, Decision (EU) 2015/1814 and Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should therefore be amended accordingly.