Working towards an Emissions Trading Directive for the European Union

Since 1999, FIELD been working closely with the European Commission and European environmental NGOs on the elaboration of an EU Emission Allowance Trading Directive. On July 2 2003 the European Parliament voted in favour of a series of compromise packages allowing the Directive to come into being, giving carbon dioxide a market value across Member States by January 2005. The Directive was adopted by the European Council on 22 July 2003. This will be the first multi national emissions trading scheme, creating a Europe-wide market for carbon credits, reducing emissions reductions in a cost-effective way and putting climate change at the heart of business considerations.

FIELD's involvement in the development of a Europe-wide emissions trading system began in January 1999 when, in partnership with the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) in Washington, we were commissioned by the European Commission to undertake a study to design options for the implementation of an emissions trading regime for greenhouse gases in the European Union. The objective of the Study was to propose design options for an emissions trading system which would take into account existing experience and ongoing UNFCCC negotiations and assess how such a system could be combined with Community legislation, domestic policies and measures and use of the Kyoto mechanisms.

The results of this one-year study provided the basis for the European Commission's Green Paper on greenhouse gas emissions trading within the European Union (COM (2000)87), published in March 2000, and are contained in the following two reports:

FIELD Final Report: 'Designing Options for Implementing an Emissions Trading Regime for Greenhouse Gases in the EC', Farhana Yamin and Jurgen Lefevere, February 2000.

CCAP Working Paper: 'Design of a Practical Approach to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Combined with Policies and Measures', Ned Helme, Tim Denne, Tim Hargraves, Suzi Kerr and Jurgen Lefevere, February 2000.

The seven scoping papers that were produced by the Study Team as part of their analytical work are also available online.

After the publication of the Green Paper, the Commission started a stakeholder consultation process on emissions trading under the European Climate Change Programme. FIELD participated in this stakeholder consultation process as a representative of the environmental NGO community, in close cooperation with the other members of CAN Europe.

Shortly following the publication of the Commission's Green Paper, FIELD was requested by the European Commission to provide assistance on the drafting of the legal text of a Directive on greenhouse gas emissions trading for the European Union. The results of this study provided the basis for the European Commission's Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC that was published on 23 October 2001 (COM(2001)581).

FIELD also provided legal input into a study by CCAP for the European Commission on the monitoring and measurement of greenhouse gas emissions at the plant level in the context of the Kyoto mechanisms. The final report of this study was published in June 2001 and you can link to the full report here, or the executive summary here. The study provided the basis for Annex IV on monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in the Commission's emission allowance trading proposal.

FIELD furthermore cooperates with other environmental NGOs, closely following the European decision making procedures for the elaboration and adoption of the legal instruments underlying the trading regime, and providing input to help ensure their environmental integrity.

Related Projects:

Providing the basis for a CDM / JI Linking Directive

Monitoring and Measurement of GHG Emissions

For further information see: European Commission Climate Change homepage, the European Commission Emissions Trading homepage: Climate Action Network Europe, and CAN-Europe homepage on emissions trading.

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