Attention: You are a trader and/or user of coke & coal - Are you subject to SESTA since 01.01.2023?! Look here!

On 31.07.2023, the Federal Environment Agency announced how and when companies affected by the BEHG must submit a monitoring plan (ÜP). This monitoring plan can be prepared in a simplified or regular version and must then be submitted to the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) by 31.10.2023 for review.
Driven by the experiences of the last 15 years and an information event of the DEHSt, which already took place in July 2023, Emissionshändler.com has looked at the topic in detail and has come to the conclusion that in many companies it is high time to make decisions on economic efficiency and compliance in this matter. The decision as to whether a simplified or a regular version of an ETS should be prepared is still rather the minor problem. What seems to be much more relevant is that the majority of companies probably underestimate the technical complexity that they will have to deal with in electronic terms.  Furthermore, many new companies in the national emissions trading system (nEHS) will not yet be aware of the systematic way in which an authority can take action under environmental law against defaulting companies if the monitoring plan and the emissions report are not formally submitted to it in a complete, transparent, consistent and timely manner.

In today's Emissionsbrief 07-2023, Emissionshändler.com therefore focuses in particular on the technical/commercial issues relating to the ÜP that arise for the companies concerned. We also continue our series on airline compliance in the EU.

As the reforms developed by the EU for the EU ETS were finally adopted in April 2023 and companies in mandatory EU emissions trading are approaching the second half of the allocation period of the fourth trading period at the end of 2025, those responsible in the companies subject to compliance should already be thinking intensively about the level of their free allocation from 2026.
Rising EUA prices and declining allocations, together with cost increases in the energy sector and increasing other internal costs, result in a risk that should be known and managed in terms of amount and type. Emissionshändler.com shows in the following how an own internal calculation of the allocation can be done and which parameters can have which effects.
In our Emissions Letter 06-2023 we also continue our series on the airlines in the EU ETS, where the limits of what is morally and commercially possible continue to amaze even the CO2 insider with the new tricks used.

Coke & coal are fuels that have been subject to the Fuel Emissions Trading Act (BEHG) since 01.01.2023.
However, those affected by this do not seem to suspect anything about it in most cases, as according to information from Emissionshändler.com there do not seem to be any significant account opening applications either at the EEX in Leipzig or at the German Emissions Trading Authority DEHSt.

The responsible parties now obligated in Phase II of the BEHG belong to the sector of coal producers, coal traders and coal users. However, there are a number of exceptions to this, in particular the users of coal in TEHG installations.

Who of the potentially affected parties has now been obligated under the BEHG for 5 months can quickly and easily (but without guarantee) find this out in the second part of our emissions letter in our coal decision tree on page 4, or in the previous and this emissions letter.

In this Emissions Letter 05-2023, we also continue our series on airline compliance in the EU ETS. The double whammy of two insolvencies of the airline Flybe undermines emissions trading and leaves holidaymakers in the UK and taxpayers in the EU frustrated.

Since 01.01.2023, solid fuels such as coke & coal have been covered by the Fuel Emissions Trading Act (BEHG), which means that responsible companies must surrender previously purchased certificates and report on their emissions. It is likely to be much more difficult for the responsible companies to identify which companies are affected by the reporting and surrender obligation than for the distributors of gas and oil, which have already been mandatorily in Tier I of the national emissions trading system (nEHS) since 2021. In the case of solid fuels, however, the previous logic that the ETS obligation lies with the distributor without exception will now be broken.
For the first time in national emissions trading, not only distributors but also, under certain conditions, users of solid fuels will be subject to reporting and submission obligations.  

We continue to report on the annual compliance figures in the EU ETS published on 04.05.2023. As Emissionshändler.com already announced in Emissions Letters in May 2021 and 2022, the ever-increasing prices of CO2 allowances are putting plant operators and airlines under pressure in ever greater numbers, which then also leads to the EU-ETS being compromised more and more.

In this Emissions Letter 04-2023 and the following, we take a look at some airlines that seem to be ignoring legal standards with the help of government agencies in a sometimes brazen manner and are also harming the climate beyond their business model.

Since 2005, electronic communication between around 1,800 compliant German installations in EU emissions trading and the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) has to take place via the Virtual Post Office (VPS) as part of reporting. Using the qualified electronic signature (QES), the VPS enables secure and legally binding electronic communication. Since 2021, the group of "compulsorily obliged" VPS users has now been expanded to an estimated 1,200 additional applicants who can submit reimbursement requests in accordance with BEDV and BECV.
What all these users and applicants have in common is that with the VPS they have to fall back on a relatively old system architecture that is "ideally" suited to cause problems and thus then run into possible administrative offences.
In our Emissionsbrief 03-2023, Emissionshändler.com shows all newly obligated users as well as those who have been responsible for the EU ETS for many years what the problem is in detail and what a possible solution could look like.

The national emissions trading system nEHS, which began on 01.01.2021, obliges distributors to buy emissions certificates for fuels placed on the market. The resulting costs are passed on to the purchasers of fuels. In order to relieve the industrial customers affected by high additional costs, the BEHG Carbon Leakage Ordinance (BECV) was issued in summer 2021, through which eligible companies can partially recover the higher energy costs incurred by them as a result of the nEHS in the form of a subsidy.
If German companies do not apply for these annual subsidies, which are usually in the six-digit range, they will be at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to their domestic and foreign competitors.
The amount of aid that can be granted and the effort that must be made to obtain the aid, as well as the technical requirements that must be met, are explained in more detail in our Issue Brief 02-2023.
In addition, we provide information on the EU's new plans for issuing and returning EUA certificates in an extra info box.