It was only in the 3rd trading period that the increasing auctioning shares in the total allocation budget made it possible to distribute the costs of CO2 emissions proportionally.
There are currently two auction platforms on which EUAs are auctioned: the European Energy Exchange (EEX) in Leipzig and the Intercontinental Currency Exchange (ICE) in London. The EUAs auctioned there are spot transactions. An auction takes place almost daily on at least one of these exchanges.
The auctions are based on the so-called Uniform Pricing system. This system is characterised by the fact that there is only one bidding round, the orders of the co-bidders are not visible and all bidders pay the same price. As auctions are regularly oversubscribed, i.e. the demand for EUAs is greater than the supply, many bidders go away empty-handed.
Member States are required to use at least 50% of the auction proceeds or the equivalent financial value for climate or energy purposes. In Germany, the auction proceeds are allocated to the so-called Energy and Climate Fund (EKF).