Basic Facts regarding EUA-CER Change

Within the European Community EU all plants with more than 20 MW burning capacity are obliged to participate in the CO2-Trading scheme. Within the EU these are about 12.000 individual plants, in Germany about 2400 plants belonging to about 1.100 enterprises, in Poland about 850 plants. The operators of the plants are entitled to receive EUA`s = European Union Allowances which cover an emission amount more or less in the actual range of their emissions. One EUA is the equivalent of the right to emit one ton of CO2.


In case an enterprise emits less t CO2 compared to the awarded amount than it can sell the surplus rights. On the other hand if more t CO2 are emitted additional rights have to be bought.
In each trading period (2005-2007, 2008-2012, 2013-2017) the enterprises will get less emission rights allocated than they actually used in the period before. Within the scheme of Trade of emission rights the allocation of free rights to the operators will become diminished and a market will develop for the commercial Trade with the scarce Emission rights. These mechanisms will push investments in modern environmentally benign technologies at the locations where results can be achieved with the lowest cost.


In order to make sure this will be optimized under a worldwide scheme the Kyoto Protocol has applied the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Enterprises are not urged to reduce the CO2-Emissions in their own plants only. They also can participate in projects for climate protection internationally under the scheme of Certified Emissions Reductions (CER). This concerns projects in Developing Countries under independents surveillance of the UNFCCC, the Climate Secretariat of the UN, which has to allow and register each of these projects. The investors of such projects will issue CO2-Reduction-Certificates, which bear the name of Certified Emissions Reductions (CER). By that means enterprises in Europe can substitute the EUA’s of the second Trading period to a certain degree with CER’s (in Germany 22%, in Poland 10%), in order of fulfilling their legal requirement of returning CO2-Emissions-Allowances for their real CO2-Output. This is being regulated in Germany in the law and in Poland through Point 6 of the Ministry Regulation of May 16, 2008 of the KPUE.