Today, on 20 January, the Government of the Republic adopted a draft regulation on summated limit values of emissions of greenhouse gases from stationary sources of pollution and the relevant allocation plan. The decision enables Estonia to join the European Union (EU) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme. The objective of the trading scheme is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by motivating enterprises to use cleaner and more energy-conserving technologies in order to alleviate climate change. Greenhouse gas emission allowances were allocated to the following fields of activity: * Energy production, including coke ovens and reprocessing of petroleum products (thermal input at least 20 MW); * Mineral materials processing (with the following daily manufacturing volumes: at least 500 tonnes of cement clinker in cement manufacturing, at least 50 tonnes of lime in case of lime kilns; in glass industry the capacity of smelters should be at least 20 tonnes of glass mass; at least 75 tonnes of output in pottery); * Other fields of activity such as pulp and paper production (at least 20 tonnes of paper a day). By adopting this regulation, the permitted limit value of emission into the air was established for those installations of Estonian enterprises that satisfy the above-specified requirements. There are 43 such installations in Estonia. If an installation emits less greenhouse gases into the air than allowed, the operator will have a right to sell the remaining emission allowance on the European Union internal market. If the emission allowance given to the installation on the basis of the allocation plan is too small for the installation to continue its operations, the operator has to buy additional emission allowance or pay a fine of EUR 40 per one tonne of CO2. In its allocation plan, the state allowed the summated limit emission value of 56,859 thousand tonnes to installations, including a reserve of 1 % for those entering the system. The operators of the above-specified 43 installations should have a trade licence that has to be applied for on the basis of the corresponding regulation of the Minister of the Environment. The regulation “Requirements for the application for the trade licence of greenhouse gas emission allowances and for the content of this trade licence, the procedure for granting trade licence and presenting the report on trading in greenhouse gas emission allowances, and the procedure for supervision and data verification” will be approved in the coming weeks. The regulation contains a detailed explanation of how operators can take part in emissions trading. Further information: Monika Kopti |
