Application of the EU Emissions Trading Directive — Analysis of national responses under Article 21 of the EU ETS Directive in 2015

The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is one of the key climate policy instruments that has been implemented in the European Union (EU) to achieve its objectives of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a cost-effective manner. The EU ETS covers certain activities that emit carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). These activities are carried out by more than 11 000 energy-using installations. These installations include power stations and other combustion plants with a rated input of more than 20 megawatts thermal (MWth) (except hazardous or municipal waste installations); oil refineries; coke ovens; iron and steel production facilities; and installations that are involved in the production of cement clinker, glass, lime, bricks, ceramics, pulp, paper and board, aluminium, petrochemicals, ammonia, nitric acid, adipic acid, glyoxal and glyoxylic acid. In addition, the EU ETS covers facilities involved in CO2 capture, CO2 transport in pipelines and the geological storage of CO2. Moreover, the EU ETS includes nearly 600 aircraft operators, but, until December 2016, this coverage is limited to flights within the European Economic Area. In total, the EU ETS covers around 45 % of EU GHG emissions (EEA, 2015c). All 28 EU Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (which are part of the broader European Economic Area), participate in the EU ETS. The EU Emissions Trading Directive (EU, 2003; referred to hereafter as the 'EU ETS Directive'), specifically Article 21 of the Directive, states that EU Member States must report to the Commission every year on the application of the Directive. A Commission Implementing Decision (EU, 2014a) sets out a questionnaire to be used by the Member States for their annual Article 21 report. The present EEA report provides a synthesis of the country reports on the implementation of the EU ETS in 2014, as well as a comparison with the 2013 data (EEA, 2015a) in cases for which this is feasible. The data included in this EEA report are for 2014 unless indicated otherwise